ESSAY
Is Being Enough, Successful Enough?
The Weekly Special — Nov 15th-21st Prompt
“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.”
― Walt Whitman
As my alarm rings and I slowly drift into reality after saying goodbye to my dreams, I wake up to realise that I have been gifted one more day. A day in which I have no idea what’s in store and yet find the courage to get out of bed and get along with my daily routine.
As life moves on and we live one day after another, we humans love looking back and discovering our growth. We like to measure the change in terms of our career, wealth, relationships, the standard of living, etc. But through it all, we don’t dive deep into a critical parameter of success: our internal growth.
So which key pillars of our life define internal growth?
This may differ from person to person, but internal growth for me is how I feel within. What is it that is driving me insanely happy or throwing me into a pit of sadness that I don’t know how to get out of? Which relationships are the closest to my heart, and how can I make them better? What is it that I seek for my inner peace?
These and countless other questions keep me busy while I focus on my household chores or type a regular work email.
But as these questions fill up the space in my mind, what truly haunts me is that is it enough with everything that I have and with everything that I have evolved to be?
It’s Human to Want More
You see, striving for something more isn’t necessary and it has to be perceived as greed. It is natural to achieve better and want better things in life. But what’s detrimental to our well-being is when we start questioning our self-worth. When we feel inadequate when we compare ourselves to other people’s virtual lives, we are blind to see how fortunate we are as loved ones surround us.
So, when do we realise that we are enough? When do we conclude that this very moment is where we are perfect the way we are?
The answer is tricky.
You see, chasing something gives us a purpose. It provides us with a reason to get out of bed. That coffee date with a best friend, that movie night, that lunch, that travel plan we look forward to, to achieve them we strive to earn. But what we forget is the underlying aspect of all our achievements which is the company of loved ones.
Success has several definitions. But true success for me is when I can tell myself that I am lucky to be alive, and I get to communicate how I feel. It’s not monetary, but it gives me inner peace. When you think of everything that we aim to achieve, inner peace is one of the main underlying factors for mental well-being.
Life Has Its Own Task List
Each day is unpredictable. We set out to follow a detailed to-do list, and invariably we land up doing everything else apart from the things mentioned in the list. Instead of beating ourselves up and feeling worthless, we must see that the success of tasks is based on the events life throws at us. If we fail to achieve what we set out to do on any given day, life wants us to learn new things on that particular day, and no one can alter what was meant for us.
We measure success based on our ideal task list. But life has its own set of tasks set for us, which has a different success measurement scale. That scale includes happiness and mental peace. And when we look from that scale, the most significant indicator of success is when we feel we are enough.
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Thanks so much for your time!
Thank you Ravyne Hawke for another thought-provoking prompt.
This prompt really helped redefine what success means to me. :)
