A Note On Success

What if success wasn’t money or fame or prestige? What if the most successful people weren’t the ones with the biggest houses or the fanciest titles or the longest list of accolades? What if success wasn’t an impressive partner or a perfect family or a life lived without any mistakes? What if success wasn’t loud or public? We have been sold one version of success, had it drummed into us with every movie, book and lesson since we were tiny. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? What if our version of success is flawed?

Instead, what if success was taking 5 minutes to count your blessings every morning as you sip your first cup of tea in bed? What if success was appreciating those little things that bring you joy everyday - the way the light streams in through the windows of the bus, or how ruffled your partner's hair looks when they first wake up?

What if success was always seeing the best in any situation, in having unwavering faith in the goodness of humankind? What if success was knowing that terrible things will happen, that we'll have absolutely no control over, and choosing to get up and keep sharing our best selves with the world everyday anyway?

What if success was small, and quiet, and private? A joke shared between friends, a quick kiss in the kitchen, your dreams jotted down in a journal before bed? What if success was realising that to have an extraordinary life, all you really need to do is appreciate the ordinary?

What if success was measured not by wealth or achievements or status, but by how often you make your partner laugh, or how regularly you get that fluttery feeling in your chest that reminds you how brilliant it is to be alive? What would the world be like if society taught us that the most successful people were actually those who lived their most authentic lives?

What if success was remembering that once upon a time, everything you have right now is all you could have dreamed of? How successful would you be then?