It shouldn't be out of place when it's said that our pursuit in life is a goal to be successful at something, or in life as a whole. This could translate as being successful in a job, marriage, career, education, responsibility, and otherwise. Life seems to be an effort in one, two, three or more of these things, with the ultimate hope that we achieve some happiness at the end through our efforts.
On the other hand, happiness itself is something we all desire as well. Nobody as a person would say they don't want to be happy. One of life's biggest achievements that I consider is finding peace and happiness, especially in a home or whatever you do. I was reminiscing a few days back about how much we would find happiness and more productivity when we do the things we enjoy.
I thought of that because I've seen how many young ones with great potential were pushed to study courses in school that they never liked. Only to end up successful in such an academic endeavour, yet unhappy. I guess you know where I'm going concerning the place of success and happiness and what they possibly entail.
That thought took me to the place where I reasoned how many of us work or do jobs which we never liked or enjoyed just because we want to do something to earn a means for survival. How ridiculous that would sound today when you mention to someone that you turned down a job or didn't apply, or something in that line because you never liked it and knew you couldn't be really productive in it.
Yes, I know it's sounding like that already in your head. So, I see that success doesn't ultimately translate to happiness in a person's life. We've heard stories or perhaps have even seen people who became successful in life yet remained unhappy. I've heard such stories of how such people suffer from one pain or another even amidst their wealth.
Happiness, is something that I see as a function of first what happens within you than what happens outside you or around you. It's a matter that leans largely on a choice that comes from within before the resources from without to complement it. I mentioned how some people became successful yet don't find happiness. Perhaps, the nature of “success” could be a matter of investigation.
From experience, observations and all, I've seen that there's something that translates to being happy more than what could be labelled as success. This is because when we push to become successful to gain happiness by all means, we could easily lose that happiness along the way. And we should be able to clarify as well that the definition of success isn't exclusive or limited to financial gain alone.
That's a conversation for another time, but just to touch on it. At such, if we see success in that sense, then again it doesn't translate to happiness automatically. Yes, success can make us happy as well. Maybe momentarily or lifelong. What I find as the success that could grant one ultimate happiness is when we are fulfilling our life's purpose and mandate. Such is when we could look at life, smile, and be happy about what we've done or created.
Images are mine.