September 18, 2014 - Written by: Poppy Gillian

What does it mean to be successful?

Every person’s life goes at a different pace, with lots of twists and turns; some expected, some completely out of the blue.

It is very difficult not to compare your life with others; using their milestones as benchmarks for your own.

Some of my friends are having children, some are getting married. People I knew at school/college are getting mortgages, promotions and travelling to exciting places.

I’ve got a 9 to 5 job, live at home and am feeling increasingly too old to go clubbing. When did that happen?

In my head I am still 18 and making big plans for the future. But sometimes it can feel like I am the only one who is not living their future already.

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This makes me think of a quote (although I can’t remember where it’s from.) It was something about the fact that everybody is fighting a battle that no one else knows about.

Success is different for each individual.

Everyone has different goals that they want to achieve. But I’ve realised that happiness isn’t something that can be judged by how much stuff you own, your job title or marital status.

Even though I sometimes feel like I’m the tortoise plodding along while all the hares are overtaking me; I have achieved things that I am proud of. I should celebrate this a bit more instead of piling the pressure on.

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I recently found out that one of my friends had been made redundant and I was absolutely gutted for her. It was a job she loved and she worked hard, but the redundancy was due to reasons no one could have controlled. It was so incredibly unfair and it made me pause for a bit to consider how lucky I actually am, even though it doesn’t always feel that way.

I’m going to continue dreaming big. But every now and again I’m going to congratulate myself on each small achievement I have made.