My definition of success has evolved over time, significantly.
I’ve had this idea for a strip niggling in the back of my mind for a really long time, and I thought it an excellent way to wrap up my up-coming book (more on the book coming soon!). Society, of course, has many definitions of success, and it was actually quite fun to draw bears in many of these scenarios. Fame, money, athletics, corporate climbing, adventures, etc. are all things we see as success. I’m not saying that these aren’t things we can aim for in our lives if we want them, I’m saying they aren’t the only way to define success. As a side note, I particularly enjoyed drawing the panel with the fancy bear in a helicopter flying to a super yacht. I had to Google image search “super yachts” to get some perspective on what they look like, it was a fun challenge.
What I’ve noticed over the past few years, especially after getting more clarity on my priorities since becoming sober and doing regular coaching sessions, is that the everyday things are so important. The ‘mundane’ moments I can sit and experience with presence seem to be some of the most impactful to me now. It’s weird, but I think as the ‘regular times’ are most of our lives, it has to be a big part of our success definition.
I recently attended a celebration of life for a young woman who passed away from cancer. Her husband was a former colleague of mine, and also a friend. He said something at this event that struck a chord with me and really helped me solidify this idea of how I define success in my life. For some context, living in Golden BC, there are extreme athletes and mountains everywhere. People bike, climb, ski, hike to the max here and sometimes it’s easy to feel like I’m not ‘successful’ as I don’t do these extreme sports to an elite level. It’s ridiculous when I actually think about it, but it’s true. Anyway, the reason I mention this, is my friend talked about how he and his late wife loved to hike and explore, but never needed to be doing something epic and ‘Instagram worthy’. They simply liked to find a ‘nice place to have lunch’. Enjoying the beauty around them and appreciating it over a nice lunch was their success.
Hence the inspo for the Venn Diagram in this strip. The fact that I’ve built a life where I have a cozy place to have my coffee is success. I do it everyday and it is important to me. I get tremendous value out of my ritual of making my coffee with attention and care. I love holding a warm cup and sitting at my counter, or patio or (if I’m feeling extra) I’ll take my coffee into the hot tub with me. If this isn’t a huge success, I don’t know what is.
The Graphical Bear 