Starting at about five years old, we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers most likely ranged from popular careers we were already aware of such as doctor, teacher, or in my case, veterinarian. Some of us had more outrageous ideas like a movie star, a Disney princess or an astronaut. However, as we grew up our ideas grew with us, and our dream professions most likely changed vastly but our desire to succeed remained the same. Nearly all of us have dreams in our minds and passion in our hearts, but for varying careers and lifestyles.

Society constantly stresses what success is and what success is not. People are steered away from certain majors and careers because they don’t pay well and one’s success is often measured in dollar signs. In high school, the importance of a college education is constantly stressed. Students are persistently reminded to keep their grades up, their schedules full of extracurricular activities and their test scores high so their college applications shine when the time comes. In addition to the professional standpoint of success, success also has certain expectations regarding one’s personal lifestyle. Success is characterized as a lasting marriage, a family, a home and valuable possessions.

While society defines success in a specific way, is this definition of success really a true one? In my opinion, the answer is no. While of course people with a lasting marriage or a well-paying job are a form of success, they aren’t the only successful people. Success is not something that can be defined universally with a one size fits all generalization for all people. Instead, success relates to happiness, and each person defines happiness with their own personalized definition.

Each person has their own dream and every dream is unique; if that was not the case then we would have an entire generation of just doctors or just teachers or just stay at home moms. With so many different dreams, one dream cannot be characterized as worth more than another and no single dream can exist successfully without someone else’s. Putting stipulations on what defines success only undermines the importance of the dreams that came true that made it possible for other dreams to come to true. With so many different dreams out there, no one person’s dream is less important than another’s nor is one person pursuing their dream less successful than another.
In addition to the varying dreams people chase, to pin someone’s success on how much money they make is unrealistic. Success correlates with happiness, and happiness often does not correlate with wealth as some of most miserable people I have ever met possess high paying jobs while the happiest make minimum wage. It doesn’t matter if someone has “Dr.” on their name tag, if they spend their days miserable, that simple title does not make them successful. Success is about living a happy life, and for some people a happy life is a high paying job or an important title, but for others that isn’t the definition of happiness.

Just because someone isn’t living their life of their dreams yet does not mean they are unsuccessful either. Success is a journey and every step someone takes in the direction of a happy life as they define it is successful. For some people, that means getting out of bed in the morning. For others, that means leaving a toxic relationship or understanding a new concept in a class they struggle with, or getting a new job. Success doesn’t mean living the life of your dreams all the time; it means having the courage to spend your day pursuing the life of your dreams, even if that means doing so in small steps.

Whether your dream is to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a veterinarian, a teacher, a policeman or a firefighter, a husband/wife, a stay at home parent, or you just want to take a step away from your current destination, it does not matter where you are going or how others perceive your journey. You are successful if you have the courage to pursue whichever long term or short term goal that fits into your definition of a happy life. Work hard in your classes and pursue the best grades you can if college is for you, but if it is not, that’s okay too because the other plans you will pursue will be greater than any other opportunities. Success shouldn’t be a specific definition but instead an opportunity for everyone to pursue a journey that makes them and their life happier than it initially was.