"There is only one definition of success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

I have always been questioning, what’s the word “success” means for me. And I believe that this question is part of every human being journey.

One day back in college, I was volunteering in this TED event, and I was fascinated by the quality of the speakers, they were all influentials who excelled in their life. They were CEOs, Noble Prize winners, global artists, world-class athletes and others with big titles and lengthy bio’s. ?I was wondering how they became so successful. There is got to be that one thing. And I started to observe closely during the preparations, I was handling tasks in the event organizations, while trying to spot how they acted and talked in conversations. They were just “normal people” and not some sort of aliens out of this world, as I was childishly expecting.

It’s never one thing, I was looking for the secret formula, but there is none. However, there is one common thing that was very recognizable: passion, an overwhelming drive to reach a goal with powerful emotions. All speakers talked about what they do passionately, full of love and strong enthusiasm. Hence I realized, passion is the beginning of success, then whatever talent, skills, determination and hard work come after, along the journey.

Many people would think that being successful means being popular, wealthy and famous. But in my humble opinion, there are different types of success: there is the social success, and this has to do with human tendencies, such as falling in love or getting married or having children. A person can believe in all, and can believe in none, and it’s totally okay if a person chose to stick out of the social norm in their definition of happiness and success. ?

There is the professional success, it’s about career goals and academic achievements that could be certifications, accreditation or a degree. Most of those around me view success as career success, a combination of achieving financial stability while working on a job that they love. Personally, I think that professional success isn’t only wealth and title, but it’s the value that I bring to other people lives, it’s the smile of a young woman, a greener area and a growing organization. It’s doing what makes me and the world happy.

Moreover, there is the personal success, that is to be truly happy, and being at peace with ourselves. It might be spiritual, or just a psychological comfort with all the surroundings. This type of success is the closet to Christopher Morley quote “There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way”. It’s just allows us to speak up our mind, follow our hearts by unleashing thoughts, creativity and love. Internal peace leads towards happiness, and this could be a success too!

Like, I find myself in Travel, and whenever I am in a new country, I am reborn-ed, and the different cultures, food and languages feed my soul. I find success not only in the destination, but the whole journey, I consider the real voyage of discovery in having new eyes.

However, in this age and time personal success is the most difficult one. As following dreams to achieve success is a lonely, scary pursuit. Social Media also plays a negative role sometimes with the cyber-bullying, social anxiety, depression, and misleading success perceptions. ?It makes everyone in some point feels like a looser. We need to lose the fear of failure, the fair of expectations. We should be learning that failure is not the opposite of success, it is part of the process, and people who haven’t failed, haven’t tried.

This is why we have to define our own success. Yes, living our life in our own terms is not easy as it sounds, not caring about what people would think might be challenging, but it definitely gives your soul a break. Going after our own definition of success requires hard work, persistence and passion. And they are all possible.?