Bloganuary #11

How do you define success?

“Success” for me can be defined in many different ways:

1. Major success in life, and people’s perception of you.
2. The little successes that are achieved in every day tasks.

Personally, I gauge my life’s successes by how many friends I have managed to keep for such a long period despite moving around the country from Kent, London (to study), Leicester, Peterborough, back to London (to work), Bristol and finally ending up in Swindon (& Wantage for work). I really don’t deserve to have managed to keep friends with so many people, because I am very poor at keeping in touch and don’t get me wrong many of these friends have passed into and out of my life for long spells of time, but they just seem to reappear in my life when I need them most. I must be doing something right, but I can’t put my finger on it and it may just be that they are the ones who deserve the limelight rather than me.

I have been extremely lucky in my working life, changing jobs and career paths yet managing to be promoted quickly as I pass through the various phases of my life.

There have been bumps along the way (particularly after the millennium, when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis). But even this did not seem to affect my working life as much as it has affected my personal life and again I have found a balance in my life, helped by friends with whom I had not been in contact for years. Although I have lost so many things that I couldn’t have imagined losing, this has been more than balanced by the many things that I have done and experienced than I ever would have thought possible.

But those are the big things that many feel are so important and yet I can’t help feeling that it is the little day to day successes that really make the difference.

I have a roof over my head, have really good food and do not seem to have suffered the trials and tribulations of so many others. Does that mean I am and have been “successful” or just lucky to have been in the right place, with the right skills and at the right time? I don’t know, but one thing I can be grateful for is that whatever the reason my life seems to have generally gone quite smoothly.