What Does Success Look Like For You?
If you’re like most of us, your first thoughts about what you wanted to do when you grew up came from the people you liked and admired.
If you liked your teacher, you may have wanted to become a teacher.
If your father was a passionate musician, you may have wanted to become a musician.
And then your parents or society began to steer you in a different direction. If glamour and fame were prized, you might have wanted to become a movie star or singer. If you valued money, your sights may have been set upon becoming a lawyer or doctor. Whatever the goal, it was always with the idea of being a success, of being “more.”
What About What You Want?
I think it’s pretty ridiculous that kids are expected to know how they want to spend the rest of their lives when they haven’t ever actually lived. They aren’t even fully formed and they are expected to know what’s available, what they are good at, what they like, and what they want to do for the rest of their lives.
AND we want that to align with what we (the parents) or society thinks they should want.
And that’s exactly what most kids do because this is our (societal) idea of success.
Here are some other definitions of success you may want to entertain. Success is…
being able to care for my own physical and emotional needs.having enough freedom to enjoy my life.having warm, nurturing friends and family.enjoying the work that I do.being healthy enough to do the things I love.loving and being loved in return.not limiting my definition of abundance to money.having the courage to go outside of my comfort zone and keep growing.loving myself enough to practice healthy boundaries.living a life guided by my values.feeling, at the end of my life, as if I have lived fully.
One of the reasons why I interviewed the people I did for my podcast is because all of my guests are a success. They live life on their own terms.
We have a military officer, musician, event producer, and corporate speaker. None of those are traditional routes to success, and yet each one of them is happy.
They all had ups and downs, but they turned those challenges into stepping stones and didn’t follow the mainstream path.
You don’t have to either.
So, I challenge you to really think about who you are and what you want. Ask yourself, “Am I chasing someone else’s idea of success?” If so, maybe it’s time to let that go.