There is a lot of confusion in the society about happiness and success and which one should one prioritize. Let me ask you-what is more important happiness or success? Which one do you value more? How you answer this question would decide the course of your life.

Let us start with a story of a boy torn between the happiness vs success debate

I was talking to a 20 something engineering student a week or so back. I had gone there for a comedy gig.

We will call that guy Jason. Jason seemed a little lost, in spite of studying in a reputed government college. We were done with the gig by then and were just chatting generally about life.

He asked me what I thought about success and what I thought were the implications of success. Since he may not want to pursue success the way the world views success-fame and money. He may just be satisfied with doing something meaningful for himself.

I found myself telling him that as long as success made him happy, that’s meaningful. He had every right to pursue the success that made him happy. He was free to define his own terminology for success-as long as it made him happy.

Is success worth pursuing?

Later, I thought to myself, if the eventual objective in life is happiness, why pursue success anyway. No, don’t get me wrong. I am an ambitious guy, want to make money and name. I want to change the world. But, there is something wrong with our collective definition of success. Why do our definitions have to be the same? Is success an input or is it an output of life? In my world, everything we do is an input. The only output is happiness felt in the deepest corners of our hearts. You have have goosebumps when you were happy someday? That’s life’s only output, to me.

Success, as viewed by the world, is materialistically driven. It means a house, a car, visible ostentation. Most people do what most people do and since most people chase success irrespective of their happiness, we have more people who are successful and lesser people who are happier.

What a waste.

Happiness over success, since happiness is success

Yes, it is a waste of be successful without happiness. Success is meaningless without happiness. Then, if happiness is the objective, why chase success anyway? Your happiness is your success. You are free to define what happiness means to you and you are free to pursue it. You have no reasons to chase success and conform to society’s standards of success.

Success is an ambiguous term because it is outward driven. Happiness is a clear feeling. It’s inward driven.

Let me ask you 2 questions right now…

1.      Are you successful?

2.      Are you happy?

In Conclusion

Think about that for a while. If you make a lot of money and live a lavish life, you may answer YES to the first question. But, whose standards are those? Those are society’s standards. WHO CARES? You. Why?

Now, think about the second question. Only you can answer the second question. The answer doesn’t stay outside of you, but inside of you. You know it. Go in front of the mirror and ask the person you see, ‘are you happy?’

You will have the answer. I promise. Look into the eyes of the person who is looking at you. Those eyes don’t lie. You don’t have to answer this question in front of anyone else. It doesn’t matter. Happiness is felt, inside of you. It doesn’t need social justification. We are not answerable to ANYONE for our happiness.

Ladies and gentlemen, YOU DON’T NEED SUCCESS.

GO, FIND YOUR HAPPINESS. YES, THAT’S WHAT I TOLD JASON.

If you found the article meaningful, please share around.

Thank you for reading.

The purpose of this blog to help you find your happiness. Please read the other posts on the blog, and follow so that you get updates when new posts are published. Please share any posts you like with your friends so that they can also find their happiness. If you have any feedback for me, please leave it in the comments and I would be happy to work on it. If you would like to support my writing and this blog, you may please send a donation through PayPal here.

I appreciate the time you spent in reading the blog and wish you happiness.

Love,

Amarvani