This is actually a repost from a blog I did last year at Romancing the Genres. I saw the link on my Facebook page under "Last year on the day" and I liked the post so much, I thought I'd replay it. (okay, I'll admit I'm a lazy blogger.)
The month I wrote this, RTG's theme was about Hope and well, since we are now in the best season of the year, Spring, I wrote a post about it. After all, Springtime is the season of hope as well as
rebirth.
Before starting my post I decided to look up the word hope and one definition stuck out to me: the likelihood of success. Why? Because the word Success has been on my mind, a lot. Partly because
this past August my high school class had its 35th class reunion. I don’t
usually attend my reunions, they have them every five years for some reason and
the last one I went to was the 25th. For weeks before the reunion, one of the committee chairs would post reminders about attending. One day she made a list of
reasons why many people don’t go to their reunions, one being “because I’m not
successful enough”. Which got me thinking….what exactly is success? Is
it a six figure salary? Is it seeing your name in lights? Is it being
financially independent. Having a family?
As children we all have dreams of being successful, like someday becoming a
famous actor or musician, a supreme court justice, or maybe even president. But are these
dreams really for us or because we want to be able to go home
one day and say “Look at me. I’m not the nobody you thought I was!”
I’ll admit, I always
wanted to be one of those people who could go back home and prove I was a
success. I thought, by the time I was thirty I would be someone important.
Someone people would admire. Someone my family would be proud of. And it’s
taken me thirty-five years to realize who cares what other people think? I
don’t need the money or prestige or fancy material things to prove my worth. So
what if I’m fifty pounds overweight and my writing career isn’t in the same vein as
Nora Roberts, or my hair is turning grey (when I allow it). I have been married to my soulmate for nearly twenty-five years, I have four
beautiful children, and a gorgeous granddaughter, a roof over my head, and lots of friends I enjoy hanging
out with who enjoy hanging out with me. (always a plus) Life is good.
Success is something to aspire to, but it doesn’t need to be
the end-all of your worth.
