Success means different things to different people. To some people, owning a big house, driving the latest car, and wearing expensive clothes are success. No wonder people are quick to misjudge a struggling individual from those who are truly successful. As we grow older, we start to see success in a different light. Rather than dwelling in luxuries, one chooses a simple life that promises peace. How we choose to define success is greatly tied to our environment and our company. They shape our perspective until we start to see things in that direction.
In the olden days, success was measured by one's crop and livestock. Only those who had managed their home well and had enough left were able to afford livestock in large numbers. Each time one's biography is read, it included their possessions to identify that they were successful in their youth. But gradually, the definition started to shift with each evolution. While some believe wealth is success, someone sees academic achievement as one. None of them is wrong; their ideology about success is influenced by the environment they grew up in and what they've been made to believe. As long as they find peace in it, then it's worth believing.
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However, to me, you're successful if you find peace and satisfaction with the life you live. Not everyone needs wealth and influence, not everyone was privileged to attain the highest level of education, and not everyone is married. But as long as one finds a means that helps them feel satisfied and at peace, then they're successful. The society may not see that as one, but I do. All that we desire in our quest for wealth, influence, education, etc., is peace and a certain level of satisfaction. If one can get them without any of those, to me, they're successful even when the world considers them not to be.
Success doesn't happen in a day; it takes years of building and learning. When one finally defines success in their own terms rather than society's, they struggle less and find joy even in small things.
