29 May 2018 What Is Your Measure Of A Successful Life?

What Is Your Measure Of A Successful Life?

Everyone looks in the mirror and has that internal discussion of where their life is and is it what they want.  You can read all kinds of sayings about how to measure someone’s life; “were they a good person,” “did they make the world a better place?”  That is an outside measure, but is it your measure?  For the most part, it does not matter what others think. I do have an exception to that. If you meet your measures of success or not with your life is all that matters. It does not have to be one single measure either.  However, I think it should be very few.  

How content I am is one of my measures.  The word content can have different connotations to people, however, to me it means that I don’t desire anything else.  I don’t need anything from a material standpoint. I have a need at the emotional level that I am still working on.  So, I am not at the level of contentment to say I am successful.

Another measure is how well I prepared my child for her future?  Did I provide the necessary emotional support and opportunities for her to build a good life?  I was more successful than not here, but, there were challenges.  This is the exception I mentioned above.  I may view this measure as successful, however, someone else has a vote on it.  I made choices that had big impacts on her emotionally.  We have a great relationship; however, my previous choices do make this measure less than perfect.

Lastly, are my parents proud of what I have become.  I know this measure is dependent on their views and not mine. Why this measure?  Because of how hard they worked to give me the opportunity to succeed.  My dad passed away 7 years ago.  I was able to be with him at the end.  I was able to tell him how proud I was to be his son.  I felt how deeply he loved me and his family.  

This was not an easy question to answer.  It forced me to be truthful with myself.  It involved some soul searching. I still have a way to go before I can meet my success criteria.  I will work on it each day.  I will get there.