Am I successful?

Am I successful?

Success is definitely subjective. Everyone defines success differently. And success is defined ambiguously. It is defined as “achievement of a goal”. It does not get much ambiguous and undetermined than that. We revolve through our life with different goals and objectives for ourselves. We all have different dreams and goals that we would want to achieve. That’s normal. That is what makes us such a diverse race of people. We are all different, with different destinies. But when it comes to success, we have a narrow view on it. Most people correlate success with money. The more successful you are, the more money you have. And that is not necessarily true. Success is not defined by money. It is defined as an achievement of a goal. Therefore, it is applicable to anything.

I wrote a paper a long time ago when I was in high school about success. I wrote about how important it was to place success in terms of the smaller things in our life : such as family and life achievements. Because although being great in your career does consider you successful, so does other things. As said previously, we all have different dreams. One person may dream about having a family of their own. And when the day comes that Allah (s.w.t) blesses them with a spouse and children, then they are just as successful as anyone else. Another person may dream that they do better in their next exam and then the day comes that they score higher than they previously did. Another person may dream that they own a company that makes a lot of money and Allah (s.w.t) blesses them with exactly that. All these situations have different end goals but the same definition : success. There was a goal in mind and that goal was achieved.

A lot of the time, we tend to be our toughest critics. Anything that we do, we will criticise and we will look down on not being enough. We are very critical of ourselves and it destroys us. We continuously compare ourselves. When we start to compare ourselves to other people (which may I remind you : have a different destiny), then we become frustrated at our progress. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Life is a beautiful journey of growth. We need to learn that we all have different paths, different routes. We cannot mould and plan our lives according to others. Inspiration is great and it is not a bad thing. Being inspired by someone and their journey is completely okay. But never follow their footsteps. Their journey only calls for their footsteps. Their journey only fits their life. Your journey is going to be different. Your journey is specially made for you by the Almighty : Allah (s.w.t). He has specially made a life for you that is unlike all the others.

Therefore, do not hurt and torment yourself with the comparison to others. You are successful just by standing here. Trust me, you have gone through so many trials and tribulations and tests (which you didn’t believe that you could get throuhgh) and here you are standing strong. Just because you have not reached a goal yet, it does not mean that it will never happen to you. You were meant to fall or go at a slower pace. It was meant to happen. Trust that you will be okay. Because in life, worrying about what ifs is just a waste of our energy. We will never be sure of our future. We will never be certain with what will befall on us. Just know that everyday you wake up, and are alive, is another day to rue. It’s another day to thank Allah (s.w.t) for and another success. You got a chance that some people never get : it’s another day. Life is short. Do not spend it comparing yourself or hurting yourself. You are successful and you will continue to be successful in different ways. Follow your own path and destiny. It was meant for you and it is your own custom-made happiness. 

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Article is written by: 

Fatin Najwa binti Daud, is a medical student studying at IMU Malaysia. She is a freelance writer of this blog at Zaahara. Interests include music, art, sports and travel.

-Photos are taken from google images

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