Success – it means so many different things for every person.
I used to define success as a nice title, good paycheck, and overall “happiness”. The issue with this is that the chase for a bigger and better title is never-ending and after one raise occurs, the next is being chased after. This creates a hamster wheel of constantly working to prove myself to everyone around me that I am worthy and with that sense of worth, success is fulfilled. No one is happy on a hamster wheel… I don’t even think hamsters are.
I know that the above is no longer my definition of success. When working on defining my new and improved definition of success, I couldn’t help but notice how as a society we romanticize fast and busy lives. When people ask, “how have you been?” I can guarantee, you have at least answered that question with, “busy” more than once in your life. I know I have.
I saw this Adam Grant post about how the holidays are meant for celebrating not for rest and relaxation and yet everyone I speak to says, “I bet you are looking forward to the holiday break to rest and relax or you deserve the upcoming break”. I mean I don’t disagree, I think we all deserve a break but we shouldn’t look forward to the holidays for that break in our lives.
If I have learned one thing this year that I will be bringing into 2022, it is that rest isn’t a reward. Rest is necessary to be successful. If you wait till you are burnt out to rest, it will take a lot longer than one mental health day or even a week long vacation to feel better. Trust me – I have been there, it isn’t fun. We are not meant to be hamsters on a wheel. Moving forward, I want to romanticize the slow life (whatever that looks like).
I want to get up in the morning and meditate. I want to read while I drink tea versus jumping onto my laptop to answer emails immediately. I want to use my lunch break to actually take a break to get outdoors and breathe in the fresh air and spend some time in the sun. I want to finish work at the end of the day and feel okay if my inbox has a few unanswered emails. I want to spend my evenings chatting with friends & family, cooking, cleaning, reading, writing, working out, dancing, singing, laughing, and just being.
By defining what this slow life will look like, I have come up with my new and improved definition of how I personally define success. Success is being comfortable and confident with who I am and allowing myself to show up without any feeling of needing to prove myself. This is the kind of success I want in 2022!
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