Lifestyle | Defining Success

Success

1. the accomplishment of one's goals

The beauty of success is that it is different for everyone. But that's also the beastly side of success because too many of us let others stereotype what success is and define it for us. We are taught from a young age that exams and qualifications amount to being successful. Or that earning lots of money makes us successful. To me, what use is all that money if I don't have your favourite people there to share it with you?

As twenty-somethings we are bombarded with the pressures of society to prove ourselves to others. Are we where we should be at this point? Are we thinking of having children? Why haven't we got a crazily brilliant career yet? In a world and society heavily invested in being online there is an unspoken pressure to be living your best life. To be 'successful'.

A pivotal moment in growing up for me came fairly recently when the rules I had learnt as a kid were nonchalantly dismissed. I was told that what qualifications you achieved were irrelevant at work and that interviews, promotions, opportunities and pay were determined by performance, work ethic and an individual's abilities. While I guess deep down I always knew this, it felt surreal to have it confirmed so bluntly.

Lifestyle | Defining Success CGD Planner, Getting Things Done, Flowers, glasses and nicknacs

My blog is successful but I have only just realised it. Constant rejections for opportunities stating that I didn't have enough followers for a collaboration to be successful. Or my DA wasn't high enough. Or I didn't have enough monthly page views. There was that word again, successful. I thought my blog was a failure.

But it's not.

I might not have a huge following or the right statistics but I am using my blog as a creative outlet and I am using it to slowly document my bucket list which was my aim when I started my blog. It's evolved into something I am proud of so why shouldn't it be classed as successful?

Lifestyle | Defining Success; Chanel L'Eau Perfume

In life, I am in a happy relationship with someone who I can always rely on and is my best friend. I have a great family network who support me in everything I do, no matter how slightly crazy it sounds. I have a group of friends who are amazing. My career is progressing and I actually really enjoy what I do. I am successful in my own right and by my own definition and that makes it all the more satisfying. I have an appreciation for all that I have and I don't think you can define your own success until you do that.

I'm still striving towards goals but that's probably because I'm ambitious and I like to improve, not because I don't think I'm successful. A little ambition and self-improvement is healthy in my eyes. I bet if everyone out there really thought about it, everyone is successful in their own right.

I am a successful woman. Hear me roar.