Our definition of success is completely wrong, but who will change it?
Upon reading the title, you may think I'm referring to the success in terms of monetary gain versus personal gain, and while that is one facet of this topic, I think the greater topic at hand is how we perceive success, and how it impacts us.
As children, we may or may not be competitive in comparison to those around us. Some children don't feel competitive and are content just knowing that they did the best they could. Other kids want to win no matter what and only feel satisfied knowing they did better than their competitors and if they didn't, there comes the "sore losers." Unfortunately, most of us fit the latter characterization.
We love to succeed, and there's nothing wrong with that. We will spread ourselves so thin, until we can't anymore, and even go as far as monitoring the progress of our competitors to ensure we always have the upper-hand, but should success require that?
We are always quick to manipulate, spy, and be jealous of others. We are, at times, unwilling to do the work necessary to succeed but are quick to speak ill of those who do. We want to succeed without the work necessary. We want to be better than others, even if that means knocking them down.
We would turn against old friends, enemies, peers, the innocent, the hardworking, anyone, to get to where we need to be. We would deliberately withhold information or even go as far as to directly interrupt someone's progress to gain an advantage, but is that really what comes of it?
Success shouldn't be at someone's cost, except your own. If you are negatively impacting someone else in order to succeed your goal, odds are you aren't meant for and you haven't earned that that success credits. If you have to cheat your way through an exam to be the top-scoring student, you're not that student. If you have to knock someone's experiment over in lab to get better results, you weren't going to get those results in the first place. If you had to manipulate someone's feelings to win them over, you aren't worth of their friendship. The bottom line is, if you are forcing it (wrongfully), it's not meant for you.
Success doesn't require pushing someone else down. In fact, it requires pulling someone up with you. Success is not isolated, it is a group effort. It is a collective benefit. And as many of us go forth with our education and embark on a new journey this year, we should be working towards this (collective) kind of success.
If someone needs your help, help them. If you have a peer that does not understand a concept in Chemistry or any other subject, teach them. While you're helping them understand what previously confused them, you will realize that you actually understand the concept better after you have taught them, compared to before. If someone is heartbroken, heal them. The same words that come from your mouth to their ears will not only fix their heart, but you will realize who you are and how you feel. If someone needs your help, lend them a hand because it can only make you stronger, not weaker.
