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 Success. What does that mean to you? Are you a successful? So many of my private counseling clients doubt that they are really successful--whether at parenting, keeping a marriage alive, at work, or at life in general. I find that these people doubting their worth are defining success in a narrow, perhaps even negative, way. Some people define their success by money or power or prestige or perfection. Not my way of defining success--nor that of Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote a poem I often quote:
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Success
To laugh often and love much;
To win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one’s self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived---
This is to have succeeded.
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I’m a success. I hope you’re thinking you are too. If not, please reread this and reflect and be kind to yourself. Until next month…
Copyright ©2007, Sharon Scott. No reproduction without written permission from author.
P.S. Please see my other column, “The Counselor’s Corner,” about peer pressure and holding children accountable for their actions.
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