“You only succeed in life with a degree”
“You won’t be successful unless you work hard”
“Listen to your elders, they know what’s best for you”
What I’ve learned to be true, is that all of these statements are false.
Some people define success with money, some with high profile careers, nice cars and fancy clothes. But what success is to you can only be defined by you.
What is my success?
Success for me was the day I found out I was going to be a father
It was the day we bought our first house.
It was the day we paid off the debt that was holding us back.
Success is the memories I have with my friends and my family.
People spend their whole lives chasing their version of success, but I’m left to wonder, if we can just change our perspective of what success truly means to us, we can feel happier and more settled in the life we already have.
I left school in my second to last year after failing my final exams by a slim margin. I remember my grandparents being particularly disappointed that I could no longer go to university and get anywhere in life. For years I carried around the weight of the words they spoke at me. It was 5 years later when I decided to enrol in an online course designed to get you over the line.
Excitedly I called my grandparents to tell them the news. I was met with slander “you always choose the easy way through life” they said.
Maybe they’re right but why should it matter? I had made an effort on my own part to progress my education. An easy way is still a way and we should be encouraging ourselves to take the next step and decide for ourselves what is best for our future.
I did end up finishing, and I did receive my certificate for that level and I wear that proudly every day.
So what’s the point?
The point is, is that only we can define the pathway for ourselves that we believe will bring us to our own success, online courses, full time study, a job we love without any study needed.
We can all do it, and we don’t need shiny cars and large lifestyle block, or a building on the manhattan skyline. Do we want to be shiny, or ourselves
