What is success?

This is how the dictionary defines success.

-noun
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. a successful performance or achievement: The play was an instant success.
4. a person or thing that is successful: She was a great success on the talk show.
5. Obsolete . outcome.

dictionary.reference.com...

But really what is success?

This is question I have been contemplating ever since I got added to my high school reunion group on Facebook which takes place this summer.Before I was added I always thought I was pretty successful. I'm 27 years old and have been married for 5 years. I'm the only woman in my family to be married before I had my child.I own my home and vehicle. My daughter knows how to count to 20 in english,spanish, and chinese(she is almost three) and my husband is a foreman at a metal fabricating shop and a heavyweight title holding ameatuer boxer. All these things I felt made me a very successful human being. Then came the buts.I'm married but my wedding cost under $1000 and my ring is not a diamond. I had my child in wedlock but then all those single women had to overcome their obstacles by themselves. I own my home but its a trailer. Car but its a 93. Daughter can count in other languages but doesn't know red from blue. Husbands a foreman but dropped out of highschool, a boxer but its violent.I think you get the picture.

So why all of a sudden am I questioning my success. Well to be honest I don't really know. As I talk to my old highschool buddies and rivals I find myself sizing up their lives against my own. I've never really wanted the white picket fence life but now I'm finding myself being so materialistic that I want to kick my own a$$. So why now? Then it go me thinking of our society as a whole. How since birth we are ingrained with the knowledge that if we don't have the latest and greatest we are not successful. That in school popularity makes you successful and the only way to be popular is to have money. Money to get the clothes and the car and nowadays the cellphone. After highschool college. After college marriage. After marriage the 2 story home with the beamer in the front. We are constantly bombarded by images in movies, tv,comercials,music and even the internet programming you to be "successful." I do believe we are being programmed and mine I think just got triggered, because I never, EVER use to be this way and that is why I put this under general conspiracies.

So I would love to hear you guys expand on this topic. Give your opinions and any advice on how to deprogram myself because this sh@t is getting ridiculous. I would love to go to my reunion with my held high.

Don't measure success by material items,measure it by happiness instead or you might become shallow.
Also,don't worry about what people think of you because the fact of it is....they don't think very much at all anyways.

I think you are right in your assumption that success isn't measured in material wealth but in happiness.

Next time you find yourself questioning if more expensive things will make you happier, remember its because a wolf needs a sheep for supper. Don't be that sheep. This is Consumerism, nothing more.

Cars are meant to get you from A to B. Homes are meant to be a warm place where you feel safe. Rings are symbols of a more priceless gift, love. All anyone really wants is to be loved and you got two people who love you.

K

Thanks you guys I just need to pound that into my head.

The bum on the street might consider himself successful because he doesn't have to work 44 hours a week just to make ends meet, and he still gets drunk every night. Of course he doesn't have many possessions but what does he need?

Find a balance between material things you need to have a comfortable life, and the amount of time you would like to have to do the things you love. Then you have achieved success.

reply to post by stinavamp


You are already successive.Success is when you looking,raising and loving your daughter,when you dinner with your husband and thousands other thing that you already have .Unfortunately for me i have a lot of money but the women i love is not with me.