Bloganuary: How do you define success?
So, I started this prompt maybe three or four times? Each time it was all: delete, delete, backspace, delete.
I think success is so hard to define because we often conflate it with happiness. You can have all the success in the world and still be the most miserable person on the planet.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because writing is tied up with publishing, and publishing (whether traditional or indie) is tied up with success. What happens when the brass ring of publishing success only makes you momentarily happy?
You reach for another.
And another.
And another.
And maybe you don’t question whether these are good things to reach for, whether they make you happy or successful.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that people abandon their goals and dreams of success. With the correct alignment, success might help you gain happiness (or at least contentment).
But I’ve been asking myself what makes me happy, what makes me feel successful. I’m working to filter the external, those things that are someone else’s standards, and capture my own.
And that might be a moving target, but it feels like a good one to set my sights on.
Writing Wrongs 
As we grow up, we’re taught so many things about what it means to be successful, it’s hard to distinguish what we were taught from what we really want. Realizing that, and spending the time to understand what really defines success for ourselves, can be pretty challenging. Good luck as you figure this out…