Serenity

A picturesque location from China. I would like to visit this place someday ...

Success and happiness

Success. We chase it all the time. More importantly, we link our happiness to it. Our happiness depends on it so heavily. So heavily that our existence starts losing its meaning without success. In fact the quest for success in life becomes the sole aim for our existence. 

So what is success? I wish I knew it in definite terms. But let me make an attempt. Success to me is being able to attain what I aimed to attain. And this is a very loose definition. So being able to reach the office when I want to reach there be called a success? I am sure people would laugh at this statement. So may be that people are also linking success with the degree of difficulty associated with attaining / achieving what you aimed at. Okay, so I will make another attempt. Is being able to reach office in time during rush hours be termed as success? ... Hmmm...People are still going to smile at this statement. In that case, probably it is not just the degree of difficulty to achieve. A success is a success only if fewer people can achieve it. So what about commuting to office which is located in a city some 100 km away? Will it then qualify for being termed as success? NO? Ohhh people are just impossible to please. So what more? Success should bring rewards as well. Else it is not a success. To sum this up, commuting everyday to an office 100 km away during rush hours is NOT a success !!

The whole point which I keep getting is that it is the people around you who keep defining what your success should look like. And no matter what you do, they will keep changing the parameters of success for you. It ends up like chasing a moving target or a mirage. You attach your happiness to this moving target. And the target would have changed when you reach there. And happiness remains still so elusive. And you remain exasperated as ever!!

My take on this whole concept of success and happiness is that they should be treated as two mutually exclusive entities. A person has the basic right to be happy and remain happy irrespective of his score in the success department. Success definitely brings joy and associated benefits. But it can not be the reason to feel deprived of happiness in absence of success. Any views from any one?

Anxiety - a relentless stalker

Anxiety is such a creepy word. I always have the feeling that it keeps looking for me all the time. It follows me like paparazzi! I kind of feel funny about this whole feeling of being stalked by a not a person but an emotion. And it keeps coming to me in all possible places, situations, times, season, month, and what not :-)

Guys do not have stalkers. That is essentially a girl's privilege. So God created anxiety to stalk the men!! 

On a more serious note, I would like to admit that I get caught in a maze whenever I try to deal with this phenomenon called anxiety. But what I have figured out is that "wait" is perhaps the most common root cause for anxiety. If you are waiting for something to happen or hoping for something not to happen, either ways you are likely to get it. Unsure outcomes of future are the most likely causes for anxiety. It can keep you worried till the time you face the outcome.But regardless of  nature of the outcome, it can eat your precious time and happiness.

I am still unable to figure out a sure shot way to deal with anxiety. But the only way out is to try to switch off and get into some bigger task to keep you busy. Can someone tell me if they have found a way to handle this relentless stalker? I want to know the way. I will be anxiously waiting till the day someone posts me a good solution :-)