It doesn’t matter where we live or how old we are — if we’re participating in modern society, it’s almost impossible to go a day without someone projecting what their vision of a successful life looks like.
As a culture, we’ve gotten incredibly effective at visually portraying this ideal — an expertly brewed cappuccino on a sunday morning, a set of perfectly pedicured toes in the sand, a rugged adventurer with his RV and his dog on the top of a mountain at sunset (#vanlife).
This type of social pressure is not a new thing. Before Instagram and Pinterest, it was GQ and Cosmopolitan. But the scale to which it’s happening now seems unprecedented to me, and it doesn’t seem like it’s letting up.
That’s why I feel like now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we make time for self-reflection. We need to create our own definitions of success so we can understand what is important to us and decide how we want to divide up our precious attention. We need to write down the intrinsic values that matter most to us, the values that relate to our personal sense of meaning and not just how others view us.
So that when someone else’s shiny example of a successful life pops up onto our newsfeeds — and it will — we can stay on our path.
Defining success is something we think a lot about at Holstee, and it’s one of the first things we did when we started the company. It's also the foundation that our membership is built upon — in fact, it’s the first thing we explore in our Welcome Kit for new members.
So whether you do it in a guided way or on your own, please make time to reflect on this important question. Because if you don’t prioritize setting your north star, someone else will.
Remember, this is *your* life.
Begin your day feeling grounded and inspired.
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