What does success mean to you?
A lot of the time when you ask this question, people start to reply with life goals and achieving them. For example – study, do well, get a job, climb the corporate ladder, buy a car, meet a life partner, get married, have a fabulous wedding and inst-worthy honeymoon, buy a house, have a family, work hard to buy a bigger house and go on fabulous holidays, work harder so that you can buy a holiday house too! <Add in other things here like exercise commitments, hobbies or lifestyle choices that require consistency and effort – going paleo, vegan or running a marathon for example>.
I used to think that this was success. I didn’t really know any differently, it’s kind of the norm isn’t it? This might be success for you, and that is perfectly ok…….
It’s taken a while for me to realise that this typical idea of success is not really mine at all. It’s what society dictates, and we all eat it up, because we simply don’t know any better.
I’m not saying that any of those things aren’t important, absolutely they are, and in varying amounts to different people. It’s really quite subjective.
What does success mean to me?
Living in alignment with who I am to my very core.
It’s being kind to all living things. It’s lifting people up when they have fallen. It’s loving with an open heart. It’s helping people to see things they simply cannot see, nor understand. It’s being present with my children. It’s being a shoulder to cry on. It’s being the person who walks into a room and transmutes the stale air of stuck energy and brings in new life. It’s being the friend that can see through the words of someone trying to pretend that they are ok, when they are really crumbling on the inside.
My definition of success, is to remain true and in alignment with myself, whilst uplifting the vibration of those around me. Sometimes it’s as simple as sharing a smile, or even a tear.
This is not something that is measured. This is something that I know I am doing merely by being present, loving and wholeheartedly authentic. It’s something that comes naturally when I have shown self-care, by doing those things that lift me up (cue yoga, writing and meditation).
I know that I’m not going to lay on my death bed thinking ‘gee I wished I’d worked harder and earned more money so I could buy x, y, z’. I hope to lay there, when that day comes, thinking about how I lived a whole and vibrant life that effected positive change in the world through the ripples of those around me.
Think about what success means to you. Decide to live that life. Then say no to everything that does not lead you there.
Together we rise,
Lauren
lovejoybe.com 