Successes

I'm pretty sure many of us these days have a very specific idea of what success is supposed to look like in life...be it our's or another's. 

But having stopped and thought about it, I'm not so sure anymore.
It's actually quite vague.

I remember having written in high school of the fact that success always requires hard work and perseverance, but when it comes to defining success in each one of our lives over time...the answer is always different.
Because it keeps changing perhaps?
Or maybe the image of a person taking a bath with gold coins is too fixated in our minds thanks to all the beliefs we hold about success without really asking why. 

I had based my career path on what job would give me sufficient funds to make my dreams come true...or at least what dreams I'm supposed to have.....A car, a big house, lots of possessions...It's been the dream for many I guess. 

But is being successful only measured in the amount of income one makes? We've all heard of it. Jobs that are noble but don't get paid as much, while there are jobs that are morally and spiritually questionable yet get paid in gold bricks. 
So why do we put up with that kind of painful comparison if it holds no true value and measurement of what good we're actually doing in this world?

It's really all a big sham which we willingly buy into. Sometimes, quite literally. Buying the things people consider valuable without any real use for it. 

Meanwhile, I've not even started my career but I've definitely started questioning it.
But I will start it soon. So, shouldn't I know what I'm aiming for?

We're all going through life in the maze we've all dreaded. Like the one's we used to play with when we were in primary school. A great way to pass your time...but not live out in reality even though most of us are in this maze, making choices without full knowledge of whether or not it will lead us to the place we need to be...many a times, not even knowing what is the place we need to be at.

Like most people, I have no idea what I'm doing in life and I openly admit it. I try not to envy and desire for things of the elite class knowing that there's another side to their successes that we may know nothing of. Blindly wishing for things we don't really need while underestimating things we have that they don't get to have.
We may never know of the people who run charities for the promotion of their own good reputation. We may never know of the rich business class who go to bed everyday with tears. And we may never see the blessings that come to us dressed as problems. 
We may never know. 

Psalm 92:7 (NKJV)
When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.

But know this...you are valuable, important and loved, no matter how much you earn or don't earn. Whether the government includes your hobbies and personal goals as assets for economic growth or not. Whether your family believes in you and your potential or not. 
You are...everything and more. 
You are.

Writing here on this blog for no apparent reason than to spread postivity seems like the most stupid thing a person could do with their free time. But, this is important to me...even if I don't earn from here for the time and effort I put into this endeavor.

Money, I've learnt, isn't always a good measure of how much you're contributing to your society and the world. Especially taking into the consideration of how disastrous some businesses end up after their leaders let money get to their heads.
And sometimes, getting money doesn't always mean that the work you do is good or productive. There are people working all day long in the hot sun for their crops to grow...and what's their reward? Peanuts.
And the rest of the time, it isn't really a big accomplishment, your parents got you an amazing education cause they could afford it and you got to the place where you are not always because you were smart or had potential but because you had the money to make money....not everyone has that. 

Bottom line is this, we, as a society and as individuals need to stop comparing ourselves based on income and possessions because of oh so many factors and variables that we don't consider while determining the "net-worth of someone" verses ourselves...because we don't know the whole story and we don't even know our own. 
We need to do things and our work with a genuine love for the people around us and for the people we come across in this life. Growing as people is way more important than growing our portfolios. And I'm not saying money is a total evil  to society let's get rid of it. I'm saying that money is important, but it's not everything. 

You are more important. 

1 Timothy 6:10 (NKJV)
 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.