What I've Learned About Success

          I've decided to do something a little different for the month of March on this blog. I am going to make a series of post entitled "What I've Learned About . . ." with each one being about the lessons I've learned on a different subject. I am not sure exactly how many posts I will have, but it will be more than my normal once a week. Prepare for a slight onslaught of posts coming from me. So without further ado, my first post about how the meaning of success has changed for me during my time here.

                Before I came here, I measured my success by the grades I got in school or the time I got in a race. Getting straight A’s meant I had succeeded that semester, getting the best grade on a test made me far happier than it should, getting my best time in a race was all it took for me to have a great day.

                But once I came here, I didn’t have those same things to measure my success by. My grades were obviously going to be terrible; how do you do well in a class when you don’t understand the language it is taught in? I no longer had my race times to go out and try to beat every weekend.

                So I had to find a new way to measure success. I measure my success day by day. Some days the goals are easy little things. Learn a new word, make someone smile, figure out what the heck I’m actually eating. But some days reaching my goal for the day, finding my success that day is the hardest possible thing I can imagine. Make it through this day without crying, don’t draw the attention of the girl who bullies you in your class, don’t give up on this whole exchange, this whole life. On those days, my success feels even better. Because I didn’t give up, I didn’t cry.

                And I think that’s what success is. It’s not being the person who makes the most money; it’s being the person who is the happiest. It’s not about being the absolute best at something; it’s about continuing to try, even when giving up would be so much easier. Success is being a good person, one who inspires other people to not give up. It’s about being someone else’s strength, even when you have none of your own left. It’s about smiling when you are about to cry, and laughing with the people who make fun of you.

                It’s about enjoying the little things that make up the big successes in your life. There have been so many times during my time here that I’ve wanted to give up, that it would have been so easy to just quit and go home. And every day that I stay here when I feel like leaving is a success. Every day that I learn a new word, make someone laugh, use that new grammar concept I’ve been working on' that makes that day a success. This has become my definition of success.

                Success is being the person who keeps working and working at that thing, forever if they have to. It’s about never giving up and never staying down for long. It’s about proving everyone who ever doubted you wrong.

                And sometimes when I think of my time here, I think I’ve been a failure. That I’ve accomplished nothing.

                But if I measure my time by not giving up and by trying even when it’s awful, then this year has been a success and I have been a success.

                Take a minute, step back, and think. Sometimes all it takes is a change in perspective to realize just how successful you are.