What is Success?

"I don't have the key to success- but I sure do have the key to failure: try to please everyone." - Bill Cosby 

 One of the most life changing quotes ever. You see- I am- or at least I was, the type of person who bent easily, and I always gave in to others' demands in order to make them happy. At one point in time, I couldn't even accept that some people didn't or wouldn't like me.

No no- it wasn't an inflated ego or anything; it was more of, "I've been so nice- how can he/she not like me?". I didn't especially take to that feeling of being hated, and I had even gone so far as putting myself down to please others. One of my biggest mistakes in life- not having a back bone. I just wanted to be accepted- to be popular, and I had felt that a single person's disapproval equated failure. What a skewed misconception.

See- after years of looking back (though I'm not that old), I've realized that the cold hard truth is: not everyone will like you- not everyone will accept you, no matter how hard you try. The vast majority may, but not every single person you meet will like you. So in the end, you just have to hold your head high and march to your own tune. Why change to please a handful of people?

So the big question is, what is success? Would you really scale your own personal level of achievement upon what other people think of you? Is that what it truly comes down to?

I personally think that if you're too busy being caught up in these trivial issues, where are you going to get the time to do something big- something greater?

This quote helped me to realize that life isn't just about gaining approval. Why do we always crave for that approval- can't we be happy with ourselves? 

So dance your own dance, sing your own song- live your own life. 

Don't push yourself under just so that others may merely "approve" of you. 

You are not merely an object to be criticized. 

Blogger Question: What is success to you?