The madness called success and the sadness called failure…

“Success” and “failure” are two inevitable things that each one of us face in life. Some of us might have had more successes than failures and for some others it might have been the reverse. But, I really wonder what “success” and “failure” is all about. I guess the definition differs with each person depending on the priorities in life.

I have had my share of success and failures but then success never felt complete nor has failure ever felt too downtrodding. ‘Good things have their own disadvantages and bad things have their advantages’ perfectly defines my idea of the two terms in discussion. If I look back at my life till now and try deducing the meaning of success and failure that would fit in my theory, it would be something that I am going to talk about now.

For me, personally, success is all about having a fine balance in both personal and professional life. If I am doing well in my professional life and my personal life is totally screwed up, it does not define my idea of success and if am having a great personal life and my professional life is going haywire, it is the same..it does not define my idea of success. But then, personal life has a greater priority always…well, it is true even if most of us wouldn’t want to agree. It is always 60:40(personal: professional) at the least, even for those who claim to be married to their work. Anything for loved ones…right??? I would call myself successful when I wake up one morning, sane, do the best I can and better myself each day from then on to be a good daughter, a great wife, a good daughter- in-law, a good mother and a good employee if am working in a company or a good teacher if am teaching impromptu or a good writer if am writing a book or a good home maker if am managing only my home…success just lies in being good, and bettering oneself while continuously trying to make the world a better place. Success is all about being madly in love with what you want truly in your life. It is all about prioritizing and knowing when to stop and when to proceed. Old saying-Doing the right things at the right time and being at the right place!!!Ah..this is what success is all about.

Coming to failure…This is so difficult to define. Really. What really is failure??All that is not success is failure, is it?? I don’t know if there are any real failures in life. Well..I don’t feel this all the time. I do feel scared of failing in life. I have had bad failures in life, could have been worse. But then, at times like these when am relaxed and my mind is clear and I look back, the question does arise-Are there any real failures in life that cannot be corrected?? I mean at the brink of the moment when failure knocks at the door, we do feel like losers with capital L. But then, have you realized how quickly we recover from it compared to what we would have thought at the moment we step into troubled waters. All those negative, sad feelings at those times make us feel like we’ll never able to gain ground again. But doesn’t happen, does it? We humans, I feel, are inherently positive beings. We just move on with our lives, putting behind all those failures and trying to just get on with our lives, we don’t even realize when we are out of it and heading towards success. Personally, I always find myself a lot more composed and more courageous after facing major setbacks because what life has taught me in these 24 years is this- ‘ If it can go wrong, then it can go right too’.

I don’t know what I have written and what is it that I felt like posting this on my blog, but then, I felt I should and I did.

All that I now wish for is ‘During the times of success, please keep me sane enough to not let success get into my head and rule it ,and, during times of failure, please keep me sane enough to not let failure get me to bow down my head’. Amen….