“the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations”
Being successful is generally the ultimate goal of life; it is something you work hard for, make many sacrifices for and put in a great amount of time for. In an invariable manner, success is viewed as the opposite of ‘failure’, which naturally begs the question – how does one define failure? It may be not being able to achieve what we had set out to accomplish in life, or maybe, it is when we do absolutely nothing or so to say, nothing remarkable. Sometimes, it can also mean not to meet the expectations that were set for us by someone else. At the end of it all, success and failure are terms that can never be ultimate or conclusive.
For years, people have always questioned the meaning of life and have come up with answers too, but the same question is still asked – no matter what the generation. Why? Simply because those definitions tell what life means to the ones who answered them. People have different motives and mentalities, and these things are the ones that shape an individual’s life. Largely, terms like success, failure, life, goals, happiness, emotions, etc. can never have universal meanings.
For me, life’s what one makes it. We aren’t sent to the earth for a definite purpose – instead, we shape the purpose ourselves. We are given an existence, simply to live. And what we do while we live becomes what is known as ‘life’.
All the moments where you live, you work, you smile, you cry, and the ones that make life engrossing, actually define ‘life’ itself. Feeling loved or respected or simply having a purpose or goal in life makes life appealing to live. So, life is but YOU being merely conscious. What you do in it then, will never be fair or ultimate, but it will still constitute your life. And just like the essence of life – success and failure are too based on you and your satisfaction alone.
You tell yourselves when and what will make you truly happy. If you follow the success standards that have been set up by the people around you, make sure you want that too.
With success comes respect, yet both are crucial for gaining any one of the other. Nonetheless, understanding what failure means to you, before defining how you want to be successful is still of utmost importance. In that case, success would then constitute everything that you do to avoid being in the situation, which seems to you as ‘failure’.
When all is said and done, I believe – if you are with your loved ones and your friends, and if you are happy no matter what heights you have achieved then – you are truly successful!
Shambhvi Poria
Grade 9 Omega | Chitkara International School
