defining "success"
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening - whenever you’re reading this..HI. I’m taking a brief pause from my blog posts about my personal story to talk about defining “success.” (In reality, this actually does coincide with my story as my definition of the word “success” has grown and evolved with me…but I digress). I was recently asked my someone near and dear to my heart to think about what the word “success” means to me and how I would define it. So… in true k.lemay fashion, I want to share it with you.
Interestingly enough, the Merriam-Webster’s first listed definition of success is: “the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame” As you can imagine, my definition was different than this one * insert crying laughing face *
At 29, “success” is a measure of me as an individual, the holistic view of “Kirstin." When I started to journal about it, these were some of the things that came out:
My inner world - how is it? Am I happy? Do I feel at peace?
Am I creating and enforcing boundaries that support my wellbeing?
Am I following my true north, listening to my intuition, and showing up as my authentic self (to myself and to the world)?
Am I using my voice and communicating my wants/needs?
Am I making a positive contribution to change in the world?
Am I doing things out of and with love?
If yes, then I am..by my own definition, successful.
Now, success didn’t always look like ^ for me. I, like most people, adopted the definition of success as it’s outlined by society. It wasn’t until I started asking myself the deeper questions about who I am as a person and what I believe in that I realized my definition of success doesn’t align with the “normal” (LOL) definition of the word. And that’s OK! It doesn’t have to.
Everyone’s version of what success looks like is going to differ based off of what’s important to them. But, I’d encourage you to take some time to sit down and think about what it means to you. You might be surprised about what’s on your list. You may even find that by your own definition…you’re already successful.
with love, always
kirstin