Success (An End of Year Self-Survey)

Hello lovelies, compliments of the season. Let’s delve in, shall we… At the end of the year, seemingly every app you’ve used righteously that’s connected to the internet gives you an end of year wrap/survey, work places and/ organizations give you appraisals, KPIs, etc, these naturally, point out your prowess, your progress report, your lifestyle as it concerns them.

Interestingly, it is a human thing to do; self-surveys, unfortunately, some carry out these surveys in comparison to a peer, a colleague, a sibling or even a rival. This tends to, most of the time cause a feeling of disappointment, despair or desperation. Now, in itself, a self-survey is not a bad thing to do, it is even still not a bad thing to compare and contrast as the case may be, it only becomes a bad thing when such comparisons and contrasts do not make you take positive decisions going forward. 

An instance, in the past two years, it seemed like the girls in my circle all settled down, at first, it felt awkward, was I not beautiful enough? Was I not made of the good stock, in character and being? I mean, I’d been in a relationship for longer than some of them but, it just didn’t pan out, and so, I was left with the decision of either feeling bitter, jealous or genuinely feeling happy for them. You know I chose the latter, because I no be bad belle, and because in all honesty, I’d gone on to actually do a proper survey, yes, I might not have settled down, but, in my career, I am thriving, my job comes with zero hassle so I can actually pursue my career fully, my relationships are waxing stronger, so I’m building a formidable network. My spiritual life is growing consistently, and I’m attaining a level of financial stability I didn’t even know I had the ability to muster. 

So what if I didn’t settle down? I settled my bills. So what if I didn’t have a partner? I got accountability partners. So what if I didn’t get married? I married purpose. The thing is, people tend to define success in comparison to someone or something else. Success is simply being consistent in growth, learning without forgetting, correcting every mistake you can and trodding ahead in faith, faith in God and in your abilities. 

So, my lovelies, when you sit down, lull your mind and reflect on the year just ended, do not do it in comparison with or in contrast to, except it is in comparison with or in contrast to a previous version of you. Do it with kindness, look for holes to plug, look for strengths and abilities to lean on and/improve on, look out for mistakes within your purview to correct, take in the year with gratitude, knowing it was successful just because you made it out, alive. Go again, next year.