"What have you accomplished so far?"
A simple question yet when given much thought is very hard to answer. An innocent question but when asked in the middle of an argument can hurt so much. In a flash, you will re-examine your life and in so doing, whatever accomplishments you may have achieved would make you feel inadequate.
I know it was not the intention of that person to make me feel insufficient. I was just taken aback by the tartness of the question. But what is the true measure of one's accomplishments? Is it through the grandiose of material things that one has acquired, or through the number of plaques you have on your wall or is it through the number of zeroes your bank account has or the number of organizations you are a member of or the wideness of your network activity?
Accomplishments or success can have various meaning depending on the person being asked. We all have taken different paths, different directions in our lives. Through the course of things, we have prioritized what is important to us at that time. For some it may be career, for others it may be further studies or building an empire or starting a family.
What is important is that you do not compare your achievements with someone else's unless you want to be miserable all your life. Just remember that this is your life and it is only you who will be accountable for it.
Simply put, "Life is what we make out of it."
1 comment:
Well said. Success isn’t comparable between individuals. Doesn’t a line become shorter by drawing a bigger one next to it? And isn’t ‘accomplishments’ in life, a journey and not a destination. In fact, the fun element in success could be raising the bar, to ourselves.. not in bench marking with someone else’s.
When such question is posed… instead of trying to answer, perhaps we must counter with a Q… "What do you consider as accomplishments or success?". Most probably, the other would falter :-D
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