When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
I think there’s many ways to define success. Many different aspects of life that people can be successful at. To look at it strictly from a career standpoint, I would say my husband is successful. He’s just a few years shy of retiring from his job and the position he’s in now at the end of his career is worlds apart from where he started. Entry level can best describe the position he started in. Over the years he climbed his way higher and higher up the ladder to the spot he’s in now. I don’t know that he would consider that successful though. He has an incredibly stressful job and it often makes him very unhappy. That probably doesn’t feel like success to him.
Maybe my sisters are successful. They have each successfully raised children. My one sister is still raising two little ones. But she wanted a large family and with four children, she has that.
What’s interesting is that I don’t have a long-time career like my husband, or children like my sisters, and yet, I’d say I’m successful too. My mental health is the best it’s probably ever been in my life. It took so many years to get to this point. And yet, here I am. More than just emotionally stable. I’m happy. I’m content. And I’m those things most of the time now. Not just a random day or two. It’s the new normal. That’s success.
Like I said, I think there’s many things to consider when deciding if someone is “successful”. And honestly, there’s no right or wrong way to categorize it.
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