My Happiness Isn’t for Sale. Is Yours?
Success means something totally different to me today than it did even five years ago.
I used to think that success was something I could measure with material metrics: the size of my paycheck, the kind of house I lived in, or the car I drove. At work, daily and weekly milestones helped me gauge how I was doing. Completing my checklist, finishing a project on time and on budget, and receiving a glowing performance review were all indicators of my imminent success.
But none of this had anything to do with my actual well-being. It was all related to a facade I was told was important.
A friend of mine from India recently told me something about the modern workplace that absolutely terrified me. They said: “We work and we work and we deliver, and we get pushed to work harder and deliver more. And people do it. They sacrifice their health and their lives because if they don't do it, the companies will just find someone else who will.”
We know the long-term effects of this. So when is enough going to be enough?
How I Audit My Success Today At first glance today, I don't check my bank account first—I check my energy. I sit quietly and ask myself five radical questions:
My Energy: Have I been feeling energetic and rested, or am I chronically tired?
My Fuel: Am I eating Whole Foods that give me nutrients, or am I relying on high-sugar, processed foods for short-term energy to keep the high drive moving forward?
My Rest: My body requires 8 to 9 hours of sleep to feel fully rested. Am I getting that consistently, or am I staying up late numbing out with television?
My Time: Am I happy with how I am spending my time? Am I creating quiet space for myself, a creative outlet, and quality time with loved ones? Am I stepping outside to be inspired by nature, or am I stuck sitting in a desk chair all day?
My Vision: Is my life exactly how I envision it to be? If not, am I actively doing something to move it in that direction?
Stop Outsourcing Your Metrics In the corporate world, we are expected to be on high alert constantly. We jump from meeting to meeting, flooded by emails and chats implying immediate attention is needed. It puts your body into a permanent state of hyper-vigilance, and the system has nothing in place to protect you from the impacts of that state.
You are the only one who has the internal authority to say: I can't keep operating like this. When you choose to reclaim your definition of success, time expands. You find the emotional bandwidth to be fully present for your life.
I challenge you to sit quietly in reflection today and ask yourself: Have you outsourced the definition of your success to someone else? If the answer is yes, don't panic. That is simply your starting point. Start observing it, and let's start taking your life back.
Stay steady,
Araceli Wehr
Inner Revolution Catalyst| Founder of Arohee