Let's Talk About Success Baby

suc-cess |səkˈses|

noun

1. the accomplishment of an aim, goal, or purpose

How do you define success?

Is it getting an A on a math exam? Rapping every line of Macklemore’s Thrift Shop perfectly? Someone telling you that you could be Beyonce's doppleganger? (The last one is correct, btdubs.)

And even more importantly, who do you let define your success? Being in college and working at jobs or internships, we are constantly trying to meet a standard defined by someone else. But I think things would be a lot easier for us if we stopped comparing our bangs to Zooey Deschanel’s or our number of instagram likes to those girls' from high school; if we defined our own success.

For me, I often equate success with recognition of my hard-work. I’m trying to avoid leaving recognition for other people to award me, and instead deciding myself. Like some days, I decide if I'm successful if I actually take a shower and go to bed at a decent hour. Other days it's being able to flip an egg without breaking the yolk. And then it can also be finding out The New York Times article I was interviewed for was published.

I remember when success revolving around stickers of butterflies and not getting tagged by the lava monster, but now, it's a whole different game. We're all still trying to run around not being attacked by the lava monster which is now labeled as failure. Of course there may be some days where it seems like the lava monster is only chasing after you, but even Beyonce has her off days. Success is what you choose to make it, and the definition is yours to write.

xx