Broken Situations Set Up Success

In today’s world, we go through the motions of our days, planned by our agenda. We dream of being successful, we dream of being happy. We look at others who seem as though they have found the key to happiness and success and we try to mimic them in hopes that we can achieve a thrilling, successful life. But these very beliefs and lifestyles are what pull our world away from the beautiful, unified, immaculate world it was made to be. Every person in the world is so beautifully different, but social standards placed by us have required everyone to be sorted into categories established by biases and stereotypes. They cause us to look away from, or look down on beautiful differences. I know that I feel the world constantly screaming out wrong directions, I cannot even go one day without comparing myself to someone seen on social media or even in person. This cycle is faced in so many different ways by every person in the world (I have yet to meet a perfect person without struggles, but if you know of one please let me know I would love to hear from them.) The truth is we focus on the flaws that we have created in humanity much too often, and it’s time we start thinking about what makes a strong blueprint for life.

Maybe it is fair to say that the mission of life is to achieve success, and if that’s true, we need to establish the meaning of success. Maybe it’s also true that success could look differently for everyone because after all, we are all different. Success to me is pushing to overcome hardships and struggles,  being granted the outcome of seeing beauty from brokenness. I don’t feel you can be successful if the "success" has been given to you, because success requires grit and hard work, so if you feel success has been easy to obtain or handed over to you, then maybe you are letting your life in which you feel is lavished get away from you. To be successful, you can not give away the good people or things that need to stay in your life, because these need to be there to hold onto when you are climbing the ladder of success. 

My definition of success can probably be interpreted in many different ways and vary from others’ definitions, so my principles probably will too, and I think that’ makes sense because everyone grows at different times and in different ways, so our perceptions of the ladder to success will vary. A principle that I hold close to me is: your mindset will always establish whether or not you persevere. Everything a person does comes from the heart or mind so I think that we should start here.  The mind can be extremely misinterpreted today, which is an interesting thought considering what we know about the mind is more than ever before. However, what we know can be filtered in different ways through staples in everyday life such as social media, the news, and even some novels. It becomes a challenge to separate what is true about a correct mindset and what causes a destructive one. I honestly have found this very challenging to do, for example I feel like now more than ever, the concept of being self-aware has been changed to being self-centered.

It is so important for a person to feel valued in some way or another, no matter where you seek it, we can all agree that much of how we act toward others is done in a way that we can feel valued by other people. But the problem I have realized with my ways of wanting to constantly please everyone is that it is impossible. Not only will I never be able to achieve perfection, but in trying to I become self-absorbed and only think about how I can complete tasks without flaws or mistakes. So many individuals including myself also struggle with overthinking every action and find themselves within their head in every situation. I know first hand that this is not only destructive to your mind but also to everyone that you influence. If we are all constantly wrapped up within ourselves, then we can’t be there for each other when we are in need. Some of us are self-doubting, and others of us clutch a high ego much too tightly, the truth is if we focus on loving others as much as we focus on ourselves, we would benefit so greatly and so would the people being loved. If we could create a chain reaction of this that just doesn’t stop, can anyone deny the greatness of a beautifully humbled community? And though these first two principles might be wonderful to speak of, they are challenging to act upon, after all, we have always known these are options but sometimes it is just easier to turn away from them. We all have our philosophies on why this is and that's okay, but we can also remember that the hard work you put into making changes and persevering takes you beautiful places.

Everyone longs for a story to tell of themselves, containing a situation that proves their life has meaning and purpose, but some of us also are not willing to put in the work for it. Life is hard, it can be unbearable for everyone, some face hard troubles early on in life, and some face them later, some of us are open about struggles while others keep it all inside. We cannot simply give up on life so that we do not have to work hard, then you feel like your sinking in a sea of sorrow. And on the contrary, we also cannot just try to make our life hard so that one day we can share the struggles we put ourselves in, that is not climbing the ladder of success, but knowingly digging ourselves into a pit of sadness and brokenness. I can be known to do both of these things daily. It is hard to focus on a bright outcome when you are walking through a dark tunnel, but it can be helpful when you look to others that have climbed to the ladder of success, and are maybe still climbing, but have shown us there is a light and there is beauty when you reach it.

If someone asks you to think of successful people of the world, you might gravitate toward that “top 10 richest people on earth list” or maybe you would list celebrities that look like they live a perfect cut-out life. For me, I look at the people who have spoken about their struggles whether it is rooted in mental illness, dysfunctional families, or substance abuse, I want to see that even in the worst moments when it seems like you will only continue to fall, it is never too late to reach the true meaning of success. I have always been inspired by the roles Tom Hanks could put on and just make a story truly moving, and come to find his real life story is just as touching. As a child he came from a dysfunctional and detached family that led to many battles throughout life but through each one he chose to keep moving, persevere, hold on to hope, and push through to the end. The lessons learned throughout a life like his can truly set a person up for real success, no matter what your financial status may be. Seeing known people share their burdens can light a spark of inspiration to look for beauty in life. The well-known comedian Jim Carrey has gone to show that anyone may struggle with mental illness, as he has gone through deep and dark stages of clinical depression. Even the seemingly most lighthearted people might just cover up what is truly being sorted through inside.

Hardships and suffocating struggles come, they go, then maybe come back again. But they will always end eventually. Knowing this, we cannot give up, we cannot close our eyes to the beauty that lies just ahead. We will carry a progressive and beautiful mindset, humble ourselves while lifting up those around us, and give all the work we can. If we want to find true, lasting success, we have to let beauty take place on the inside, but let it penetrate through to all of the outside.