As we plunge into a fresh new year, many people will be setting resolutions, and considering their hopes and aspirations. It's therefore a good time to think about what success means. All too easily, the idea of success can become a moving goal, where no matter what you try and what you do, the feeling of success seems always out of reach. Capitalism perpetuates this through feelings that we have to compete against each other. The new shiny thing that was going to prove something about us is always replaced by a newer, shiner thing we don't yet have.
Set the bar low. Imagine the smallest thing that would be meaningful as a marker of success. With this blog, I set that bar at getting one 'like' or positive comment. If what I write works for one other person then my post has done its job. I apply this to a lot of things - if I can make one person laugh, or one person smile, if I can do something in a day that helps one person - good enough.
For me, success economically means being able to afford to live, and having enough to spare for nice things, and the scope to bail out friends in need. I don't think my income level proves anything about me as a person, and I don't judge other people based on what they earn.
I don't measure success in terms of material goods. I'm a scruffy goblin, I use things until they wear out, I don't need the newest anything. I don't see people who have a lot of stuff as being successful, but I do sometimes wonder whether they are happy.
Happiness is definitely a measure of success - mine or other people's. Causing happiness, enabling it or supporting it is also a measure of a successful person. The person who can enrich or improve life for another being, is a successful person.
Feeling unsuccessful will lead to feeling powerless, and unhappy. We're social creatures and we tend to suffer when we think other people may have low opinions of us. However, we get to choose how we define success, and that can be a really powerful choice. If you focus on the good you are able to do, then your sense of self doesn't have to be rooted in money or status. We all have scope to contribute to the wellbeing of other living things. We all have scope to make beauty in the world, to bring joy, offer comfort and to lift up those around us. Small everyday things done well are successes that merit taking seriously.
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