A few days ago I met someone who was doing an assignment for me. And as is the case with people in middle age, the conversation became laced with philosophy every now and then.
While on the topic of middle aged people, I fail to understand why people in their early/mid forties tend to discuss life's bigger introspections whenever they are having a chat with someone in his/her thirties. Is it to showcase their superior experience in life or simply to highlight that being senior in age gives them the right to sermon on their own (supposedly superior) wisdom on life. What I understand otherwise is that experience and wisdom come not with age but by being absorbant of all you learn on a daily basis. The more you absorb, the more mature and wise you are.
Anyway, coming back to philosophy. The discussion that day tended in the direction of "success". He opined that he is successful because he is very content in life. He is satisfied with whatever he had achieved till date and is okay if he continues in the same comfortable situation in life. He then went on to explain to me how he had achieved his success, some things about single point of focus (how he focuses only at the job in hand), taking frequent short breaks, etc.; most of which I did not listen. I did not listen because I was still stuck at his definition of success. So, I sat there just nodding my head at intervals and saying "yeahs" and "rights" off and on, still introspecting on my own definition of success.
I continued to ponder on this for a few days and finally collected my thoughts on "success". I feel that success is really subjective, and everyone looks at it from his/her own perspective. So some people measure it with how much money they have amassed, some with how many rungs of the organisational ladder they have climbed, and some others with their own notion of "satisfaction" and "contentedness". This person I was talking about feels he is successful because he is "satisfied" with no further desires in life.
Now, how do I feel about success? Do I consider myself successful? Obviously, I am going to talk about that. Why else would I write paragraphs about something which most people understand anyway? I think I am happy and satisfied with whatever I have achieved till date but I am far from done yet. I feel that the day I am left without any ambition in life, I would feel stifled (then again if this gentleman wants to continue in the same comfortable situation in life, would that not count as some form of ambition?) I do not yet know where exactly I want to be placed say 5 or 10 years from now, but I sure as hell know that I intend to continue moving forward in my efforts to ensure a better quality of life for my daughter and my family in any phase of my life or career. One should always try to ensure that the future is better than today. This cannot always be ensured by earning increments and promotions. Sometimes it's about making time for family, pursuing a hobby that makes you happy, or simply by taking an early retirement to fulfil your long lost desires. The idea is to gain happiness. Happiness is infectious. When you yourself are happy, you tend to radiate it all around you and the people around you catch it as if it's contagious. So, then success, for me, is anything and everything that makes you and the people around you happy.
That - happiness - is the long and short of every goal you make for yourself in life.
