Define your own success

Growing up I had this picture of what success was supposed to look like.  It looked perfect, and I wanted that perfection.  Boy was I wrong.  I strived to have perfection in all I did.  I thought success meant being perfect.  Through a series of unfortunate events when I was in High School, I learned that perfect I was not.  I thought this meant that I was not successful and could not fully achieve success.
I saw myself through tinted glasses.  I allowed the actions of others to cloud my view.  Perfect was not attainable.  It was never attainable.  That realization hurt me for a long time, but now I find it freeing.  I am flawed.  I am imperfect.  I am real.  And, I am successful.  I am also a failure.  That failure is what spurs me on to reach higher and work harder.
I would rather be imperfect and fail than have a facade of perfection.  I have learned that what I used to think was success and was perfect was in fact a facade.  It was smoke and mirrors.  I don't want a fake life and fake success.  I want a flawed, real life.  I want a life that challenged me, that is an adventure.  I know that I am going to continue to make mistakes and have new failures, but I also know that I am going to learn from them and grow into the person I strive to be.
Flaws and failures are part of who we all are.  They are how we learn.  Success is now something that I see as a process.  I celebrate the steps of my success.  Some days the steps are forward and some days the steps are backwards a bit.  Each step whether forward or backwards teaches me something I need to know to continue to achieve my dreams.
I challenge you to embrace your failures and look at success in a new light.  Success is what you choose it to be.  You are successful when you achieve what you set out to.  No one else can define for you what is successful in your life.  You are in control of your success.  Decide today to be successful.  Define your own success.

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