Aspiration
I have always gotten the idea that we all agree that aspiration and ambition are good. Being driven? Hungry for success? Absolutely commendable qualities! But what should we be driven towards and what kind of success are we talking about here? We all have these versions of success that are conventionally widely accepted. Famous singers and actors and sports stars. Successful. Settled in a different country. High paying job. Big house. Multiple cars. Successful. It seems like success is related to comfort and ultimately happiness and peace. But are successful people significantly happier and more at peace than the rest?
People leading simple lives that aren’t conventional successes do have their good days of maybe meeting an old friend, or seeing a beautiful sunset. It could be anything. And they would have their stressful days too, of work not being easy or some problem with family. And conventionally successful people also have their bad days, when they are mentally low. It could be anything. We have infact heard a lot of stories of successful people experiencing depression. And of course they have their happy days of their work going well and winning awards too.
At whatever spectrum of conventional success we are in, we will have our share of happy days and not-so-happy days. I think how we feel at a moment is also relative to how we felt just before. After a very happy day, the next day may seem a little dull because we were used to happiness for a bit, and after a sad day, you might get a feeling of releif. So, how happy we feel is relative to how we felt before and by this, although happiness and sadness might reach different degrees at different moments, there will mostly always be a balance of happiness and sadness overall. It is also important to keep in mind that feelings of happiness and sadness, while reflections of how we react to what happens around us, are fundamentally chemical secretions in the brain. Of dopamine and serotonin creating worlds of feelings for us.
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Having establised that conventionally successful people aren’t necessarily happier, is conventional success what we should aspire for? Is the correlation between what we call success and happiness not true then? Am I saying that being successful is pointless? Then what should we aspire to be?
In my opinion, we should genuinely aspire to be good and aspire to add value to the world. While conventional success like fame and money could sometimes be byproducts of value addition, but they shouldn’t be the primary driving force. If you chase conventional success, ultimately things could be going absolutely well and yet you may feel empty or anxious. I kept using the word conventional success before, because true success is being at peace.
It is essential to be driven by actually wanting to do good, helping others and adding value to the world. Mental peace will definitely follow. Fame and money may follow. Or they may not. Regardless, we need to understand that it makes no difference when we are at peace.
We can continue living our lives as we do now, but we need to consider our aspirations and perhaps adjust our inner compass slightly to head toward where we really want to be.
