One of my favorite quotes is, "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded." Another one is, "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
I like to measure my level of success on how happy I am, whether or not I'm helping others, and whether or not I love what I am doing. Measuring success this way helps me feel...Well, successful.
But something I constantly struggle with is feeling profoundly unsuccessful on a mainstream, societal level. My lack of direction, my lack of money, and my lack of "big scale" accomplishments tend to make me lie awake in the middle of the night and feel as if I'm doing nothing with my life. In those moments, I tend to forget about all the people I've helped and inspired and how much I love what I do every day. I am incredibly hard on myself.
It's difficult to stand by my views on success when I'm surrounded by seemingly countless reminders that other people in my age group are succeeding at so much more than I am. I forget to stay focused on my own life and my own goals.
But no matter how many times I remind myself to keep the focus on my own path, I always find myself feeling as if I don't measure up---regardless of how many people I've helped or how much I love what I do.
So what does success really mean? Do you think it means helping people and doing what you love, or do you think it means actually succeeding at an adequate number of endeavors and being able to comfortably stand on your own two feet as a result of them? Can it mean both? Can it simply mean loving and staying true to yourself, regardless of where you are on your journey?
Leave me a comment or shoot me an email, and let me know your thoughts!
<3 Madison
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