How Do You Define Success?

 We’re blogging about Hope this month, apropos as Springtime is the season of hope as well as rebirth.  Before starting my post I decided to look up the word hope and one definition stuck out for me: the likelihood of success. Recently, the word Success has been on my mind. Why? Because in August my high school class is having its 35th class reunion. I don’t usually attend my reunions, they have them every five years for some reason and the last one I went to was the 25th.  

The other day, one of the committee chairs posted a list of reasons why many don’t go to their reunions, one being “because I’m not successful enough”. Which got me thinking….what is success? Is it a six figure salary? Is it seeing your name in lights? Is it being financially independent. Having a family? 

As children we all have dreams of being successful, maybe a famous actor, musician, supreme court justice, president even. But are these dreams really for us or because we want to be able to go home one day and say “Look at me. I’m not the nobody you thought I was!”

I’ll admit, I always wanted to be one of those people who could go back home and prove I was a success. I thought, by the time I was thirty I would be someone important. Someone people would admire. Someone my family would be proud of. And it’s taken me thirty-five years to realize who cares what other people think? I don’t need the money, prestige, fancy material things to prove my worth. So what if I’m fifty pounds overweight, my writing career isn’t in the same vein as Nora Roberts, and my hair is grey (ish). I have a loving husband, four beautiful children, a roof over my head, and lots of friends I enjoy hanging out with who enjoy hanging out with me.  (always a plus)

Success is something to aspire to, but it doesn’t need to be the end-all of your worth.