Success and Happiness

"I just wanna be, I just wanna be, I just wanna be successfullllllllllllllllllll" (in my Trey Songz voice). Probably one of the realest hooks I've heard in a song. Really simple, nothing that pumps you up, not bragging about anything, just a statement that many people feel and relate to and that's why the Drake song was so popular. That and he had a shirtless beige greyhound singing the hook. Especially after he came out with his whole own song about inventing sex where he was basically naked the whole video. But it was cool because the lady he was with was too so I didn't feel suspect. Last week I wrote about ambition and motivation. Now I'm writing on what ambition and motivation may lead to and what most of us all hope it leads to, success and happiness. Most of us also believe that if you experience happiness, you've found success and vice versa. But how can you say that when a lot of us don't know what either is or haven't experienced them enough because we're too busy being stressed and frustrated about life. Let's dig deeper.

What is being successful? What is being happy? Being as blunt as I can, success and happiness are all relative, meaning you define your own version of being successful and being happy. You will know when you are successful because you'll start feeling gratification and satisfaction more than you feel your feet touch the ground. In terms of being happy, I believe true happiness comes from satisfaction with the type of person you are and the way your life is, no matter the circumstances. Being happy is being rid of negative energy, taking criticism constructively, not necessarily disregarding it. Being happy is having respect and positive disposition towards everyone and everything disregarding how they may be towards you. Happiness is being able to extract all the joy and positives out of any situation and using it to build you and your character. Honestly, I believe happiness is with us from birth, a lot of us just have a hard time finding it and unlocking ourselves to be able to let it exist. I understand that life isn't bunny rabbits and sugarcoated candies. But it also isn't molten lava and thorn bushes. It's a good medium, all about adaptation and breaking the equilibrium until it's favorable to you. I don't think there is one thing in life to be stressed or frustrated over. Although, it is alright to feel down every once in a while and we are all human so emotion is sure to get the best of us a lot. If you want to experience happiness and even success, you have to limit the time you're down. Nobody accomplished anything while depressed. Think Louis Pasteur made vaccines stressed? Think Napoleon and Alexander the Great conquered nations with high blood pressure? Chief Keef nah. Real men never go down they just stay up, word to the Nature Boy Ric Flair.    

Because the success and happiness in all of us varies, from where we started from, how we got there, to what we are doing after all of that, so why judge something WE control from others, whether it be a dictionary or other people. Bill Gates is Bill Gates. Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan. Michael Jackson is (was, R.I.P.) Michael Jackson. Yes, upon society's standards they are(were) all successful and possibly extremely happy. They made billions of dollars (although Jordan stuck at around 750 million), made a dramatic impact on people's lives through their philanthropic, humanitarian and career works and can arguably be proclaimed the best at what they do (did). But what they did is what THEY did. It can't be replicated exactly. What we do to be deemed successful and happy will probably be different from how they got there, even if we follow the same professions. So why judge ourselves on people like them or others? Honestly, those are people who come once every so often who were made to leave their print on the world. Not everyone is meant or can do what they did in such a big way so if you judge yourself on what they did, good luck, your soul is sure to be exhausted. But, I'm not discouraging you from anything. If you want to reach their level, go do it. Nothing I like to see more than other people succeed and prosper. What I am saying is, because happiness and success are thing we each individually feel and, as individuals, so our definitions of success and happiness should be made by ourselves.

Now the million dollar question is how do we become successful and happy? First, refer to my ambition and motivation blog. http://joshdeucewilks.blogspot.com/2013/02/ambition-and-motivation.html  Now read my following sentences. Carry out your life plan and run over every fucking obstacle that might stop you. EVERYTHING! Ask yourself how much you want something and then ask yourself how far you are willing to get it. You shouldn't want something if you don't want it definitively. And if you want it definitively, you should want it bad. f you want it bad, you should do everything in your power to get it. Simple chain. But again, you control whether you are happy and successful. Whether one comes with the other is hard to say, but the way I look at it, if you find success, you feel happy about it. And anytime you find yourself happy, you've successfully found it.

One thing I will say is don't stress yourself trying to find success and be happy. Those two things happen naturally, meaning you have to live and keep going. Looking back means you've stopped moving forward. Success and happiness is very obtainable. It's all about release, mentality, and work (oh the horror). But I believe once you find success and feel happiness, life no longer feels like a reality. We all need a little time in the clouds.