By: Twitter Buttons

Friday 22 October 2010

I Just Wanna Be...Successful


This post was inspired by a tweet by the very talented UK Hip Hop artist 'AKS' (he is also a fellow blogger over at NothingMoreNothingLess).

"Whilst watchin da MOBOs I was filled wid emotion @ da realisation dat my aspirations no longer include receiving accolades in such fashion...the appeal of chasing the glitz and glamour of industry and its approval has worn off."

Some might say that he just sabotaged himself in that one day he might actually want a MOBO or a BRIT or some other institutional prize, but I take his tweets to mean that while they may be flattering and deserved, they are no longer his sole pursuit. This, along with what I have seen, read and heard over the last couple of weeks, made me think about what it means to be 'successful' and what do people have in mind when they are pursuing 'success'.

Over the years, my interpretation has changed numerous times; as a teen success to me meant working for a great company, later on as my ambitions and mind expanded, success meant being self-employed and achieving my ambition which extended to travel and other experiences. While this still is true, I have realised that success comes in a variety of forms, it's not all about work and external motivations; I want to be successful as a mother, wife, sister, friend and as a person - someone who is honest, has integrity and is selfless. In all honesty, I am still learning what being successful in each of the above categories entails but the point is that the typical images of success such as career achievement, fame, money, who you know, respect from others, awards and recognition can actually cloud our vision in the other areas of our lives where focus and attention is needed.

But with the media having such a large impact, we are faced with these typical images of success all the time, from music videos, reality television, magazines and even at award ceremonies. Just the other day while watching a 'reality' show and listening to the characters get into a hissy fit over the most trivial 'he said-she said' issue, I said to myself "Really?! Honey you have way too much time on your hands". Despite the money, the fame, the 'success' I found myself rolling my eyes - this is definitely not the "success and all its trappings" that I aspire to. Now I am nobody to turn my nose up at someone else and their lifestyle but like AKS, I think that it's time that ambitions are re-evaluated and people question what success means to them and more importantly why they want to be successful - to help others, self fulfilment, status? I know what my answer is. What's yours?



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