Personal Narrative Essay: What Does Success Mean

What does it mean to be successful? It’s no surprise that being rich was the first thing that may have popped into many heads, but what about happiness? Obtaining wealth and fame becomes absolutely meaningless when you aren’t happy with yourself.

Being successful has no real meaning, it is something you have to define for yourself and it’s different for everyone in their own way. You may think you’re successful but to the next person you’re just an average Joe. When an individual takes the time to think about the meaning of being successful, it can be defined in many ways. Whether it is social status, career progression, wealth, or sense of accomplishment, none of that could mean anything when you’re overall completely unhappy with life. 

Furthermore, the one thing that can make anybody successful is wanting happiness and achieving it. Once somebody finds their purpose and what makes them the happiest, nobody can be more successful than them. Anyone who is rich and sad could never compare to someone poor and happy. 

Personally speaking, last year I had all A’s, a relatively well paying job for my age, and a lot of friends but for some reason, I was still unhappy. Many people would argue with me and say, how could I ever be sad when I had everything I could have ever wanted? In actuality, I was with people who brought me down, they weren’t real friends. I was unhappy because I was forcing myself to fit in where I didn’t belong. My job was paying me so much money, even so I dreaded going there every day because of the unhealthy environment. I ended up quitting my job, dropping those friends and I couldn’t be happier or more successful than I am right now. I have a job that I enjoy going to every day, two real friends I hang out with occasionally and my grades aren’t exactly where I want them to be, but I'm working on it. I feel so much more successful, content, and happy with the way life is. 

People nowadays go chasing fame and fortune, when all they really need is happiness and purpose to be truly successful. Find that purpose, find that happiness and then go after it.