Alton Brown has become aware of the weaknesses which may be holding him back and preventing his evolution. He has decided to become aware of these weaknesses and to start working on transforming himself.

You sometimes sense a conflict between your desire for social and professional success and your need for a stable, secure domestic life. You are deeply committed to both ideas and do not always succeed in reconciling their schedules and demands on you. Sometimes it feels as though you will never be able to find a balance, but no job promotion will really satisfy you if you have neglected your most intimate needs and desires. Although it sometimes seems easier to you to climb the rungs of the career ladder out there in the real world, if you merely sacrifice your domestic life, you are only trying to fool yourself. You should accept the fact that your domestic life is the true basis and foundation of your development. All your career endeavors and success will be even more rewarding if they are supported by a safe, warm personal life.

Alton Brown is endowed with sensitivity and profound aspirations, especially romantic ones. Nevertheless, his spirit is sometimes too delicate for him to have armored and structured himself for the constraints of life out there in the real world. Moreover, he sees little point in devoting himself to fulfilling the demands of practical reality, which strike him as rather futile and empty. His escapes into his fantasy world give him the illusion of a much greater reward. He tends to gloss over his vision of other people, and when they reveal their imperfections and incompetence, he feels guilty for them and suffers from his own vulnerability and illusions. He would do well to try to be more selective about the people he associates with; when he is moving in a dream world, he attracts the kind of dishonest people who are likely to take advantage of him.

Often Alton Brown is too tense and irritable to stick to a task for long. He is easily bored and distracted, and his bouts of inattention usually keeps him from engaging in any action totally. He tends to start a multitude of projects, but rarely finishes them, because meanwhile he has started some new enterprises. It might be advisable for him to learn to coordinate his energies and actions, if he wants to avoid exhausting his vitality.

To trust yourself better and gain self-assurance, the first thing you must do is learn to say no. Once you are capable of saying no to others, you can say yes to life. You must develop your awareness of all the good things in your life, as well as all the changes you hope to make in order to enjoy them more. This will be the foundation that supports you, the inexhaustible source and center of the transformation of your personality. Infantile anxieties which arose in childhood when you were helpless may be obstacles to your evolution. Sometimes they actually prevent you from daring to confront challenges you would be altogether capable of assuming now! One of the reasons you yield to these childhood fears so readily is that they procure a feeling so familiar to you, although it is negative, it is a reassuring part of your identity. However, the more often you reinforce this complex by yielding to that feeling, the more unaware you become of your true emotional state. The irrational childhood fears have also reinforced your pessimistic tendencies. It is difficult for you to believe in the good side of life because of the pernicious little voice inside you that claims you don’t really deserve all this goodness. This side of you could undermine your vitality and force you to compensate or flee from reality. In doing so, you limit your power to bring about a positive change in yourself or your life. It’s a vicious cycle, and to free yourself, the first step is to free yourself from the fears which prevent you from taking full advantage of life. You can succeed if you arrange a relaxed, positive environment for yourself, establish sincere relations with one or two special people, and, if possible, find a setting – perhaps a yoga class – in which you can practice relaxation exercises.