Success Rewired

On a gloomy Tuesday morning, my brother and I were having a cup of coffee and looking through our phones, while I noticed this sudden shocked expression on his face and asked what had happened, with the same bewilderment, he said that one of his school mates had attempted suicide. And the reason left my mind boggled, yes! The reason was he failed to seize a suitable job for himself even a year after completing his engineering. When he was asked by my brother as to what pushed him to take such a drastic step, the reply that came was “an unsuccessful person doesn’t deserve to live”. My question is, on what basis did he judge himself as unsuccessful?

                                                                              Pic credits; decisivemarketer.com

Is “success” the ultimate motive of life? By “success” I mean what most of us in our society believe; that is getting a high paid job immediately after the completion of your education, eventually leading a standard elite life with luxury cars, houses, vacations etc. All those who possess the above can only be called successful or otherwise not? Before this incorrect definition of “Success” engulfs everyone’s belief, it’s high time we rewire the true meaning of it. 

We all are in need of reminding ourselves of the fact that life is not the same to everyone. It is unfair to hold a grudge on ourselves for not being successful based on our comparison with the rest of world. Being “Unbeaten” with money, power and status cannot be called as success. Success is that moment of bliss we all feel when our purpose of life is fulfilled. And this purpose of life is different for different individuals and also keeps changing in different stages of life. Success might be a common factor in everyone’s life, but the factors influencing it can never be common in everyone’s definition of success. 

The creator of this universe has carved unique paths to each individual and it can never camouflage with anyone else’s at any point in time. Keeping this in mind we need to primarily focus on building a strong character contributing to our “individualism”. This individualism must be so concrete that no external force should influence its form. As said by Gautama Buddha “ The whole secret of existence is to have no fear, Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one, Only the moment you reject all help are you freed”. “ Fearless living” is the key to “ meaningful life” as it makes it extremely palatable by arousing all the emotional taste buds of a human being and not just success and failure. 

Trying to be successful in every stage of life is not the only reason for being born as a human. Success is momentary it can perish any time, it’s just a moment and every moment in life is tentative. Likewise failure is also not final, it is also a moment in every person’s life which definitely passes by carving a strong path of learning. Therefore what should remain within us eternally is the “courage” to continue to live irrespective of the moments we experience, that’s what enables us to lead a satiated life. 

A simple thought to live well

Let us try not to chase anything in life, most primarily “Success”. Life is not meant to chase a thing, emotion, event or situation. It is simply meant to feel everything that chases us and encounter it in our own style. 

However Success is a rendezvous which is confronted by each one of us as a result of our actions. Therefore we have to constantly focus on action and eventually we succeed in achieving the purpose of our actions which actually is “Success”. 

Value “life” not “success”. Success is a part of life and not life itself.