Defining Success

Success to me would be surrounding myself with good people, staying happy, and healthy. I think defining success would be different for different people. Take Chris McCandless, he wanted a journey. McCandless and I would probably agree that being successful would not be having a lot of money. If you look at everything McCandless was able to do, travel and meet interesting people, he seemed to have lived a very rich life. Before he started his adventure, he lived a life that most would define as very successful. He had money, never was hungry, had a good education, was living on his own, and had a car. A strong element was missing from his life, the truth. Everything he had, he seemed to feel was a lie because of his parent's deceit. I believe that he wanted to create his own path so he did not follow his parents footsteps. 

The important thing to look at when it comes to defining success, is that it will not be perfect. You may face some failure, but it does not mean that you are a failure. If you look at your heroes  they have had trouble along the way. The thing to look at is that they tried. 

Many people are just in a transition in their life. They are growing up. As you grow up your idea of a being a success changes. I think what determines how a person perceives success is from their peers. In a letter Chris McCandless wrote to Ron Franz, "So many people live within unhappy circumstances they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man that a secure future (Krakauer, 58)." Knowing that being a success does not have to mean making a lot of money. Defining being a success will be different for everybody. What makes McCandless' adventure so honorable is that he was doing it for himself. He did not care about others idea of what being a success is. McCandless did not worry about being successful in areas most people would try and achieve like in a career or education. Success for McCandless was something completely different, which is why his story is uniquely interesting.  

• What would you define as someone who is successful?