Success by any other name

I was reading through some blogs, trying to despejar my mind of the clutter that's accumulated when I came across this post. I felt as if I could've written the exact same thing, only I didn't. And in reading the comments, I came across this magnificent quote:

"At the end of my life, would I rather be someone who's won a Pulitzer and has a string of bestsellers...or would I rather be surrounded by people I love and who love me, and who believe I made their lives just a bit better by being there? Not saying you can't have both, but I know which achievement(s) would matter more to me in the end."

This really puts our goals into perspective. All of our lives we're taught to "be somebody" and that usually means being successful, having a career, making money, and becoming something that society would approve. But by whose standards are we gauging success? As her quote implies, there's an order of importance when it comes to the goals we have. In my life, there are many things I want to accomplish, at various levels, and with this quote, it's easy for me to see what's the most important: my family. Simple as that. Now hopefully I can remember that when I get my stories going and I aspire to be the next bestseller....