Tuesday, May 4, 2021 (Day 124)
Meditation Music for the week: Touching Calm: Liquid Mind (7:44) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlUKEoBgois
Question: What does success mean to me? Do you consider yourself to be successful?
Answer: I look at success the same way as happiness – with a grain of salt. Success to me is whether my today was better than my yesterday. I will usually ask myself, “Was I a better me today than yesterday?” If yes, than it was a good day; if no, then not so good. I also know that I spent a lot of my time getting pissed off as people doing less than me at UNCG was being recognized – and here I’m doing work recognized around the country and all I get are crickets. But now, I know that my work will never be accepted or recognized at UNCG, so it’s just time for me to realize that and move on in a number of different ways. There’s a lot of politics in higher education; I think, after 31 years of dealing with the bullshit, it’s time to let it go. I also believe that I was put on this earth to serve in some capacity, so I also have to ask myself, “Did I make a difference today? Did I serve profoundly?” And it doesn’t necessarily mean whether I have to make an impact on someone’s life; it could mean that I answered an email, or created/modified a tool that could be useful to others, or even just took Laci for a long walk. It’s my way of engaging in self-coaching; this question, “Is this action I’m about to take making me a better person and/or serving someone profoundly?” If it’s not doing one of those two things, then I don’t do it. If it does, give it my all. To me, that makes life really simple. So, my answer to the second question is yes, I do consider myself to be successful, not because of money, job, prestige or some other external factor; I’m successful because I feel like I’m making a difference in the world and creating hope for a better future for myself and for others. Success and happiness are two things that most people want, but can’t seem to define what it means and never seem to achieve.