“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.”
― W.C. Fields
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
― Maya Angelou
Success is never giving up. If you are doing something you enjoy, does it matter what the end result is? Money doesn’t mean success, it just means you have money. You can be miserable, unhealthy, unliked and depressed while surrounded by more luxury than most people dream of having. A successful life is one lived in the pursuit of fulfilling dreams, and the inner joy that comes from that is true success.
If you set the bar impossibly high and won’t feel successful until you get there, the feelings of joy and bliss will elude you. Being joyful every day with no conditions on the outside world to put you in that state is success.
A Little of This, a Little of That – Another study on the benefits of light drinking suggests that if you enjoy doing something and it doesn’t affect you negatively, then just do it. In a study from the University of Georgia, researchers found that compared to nondrinkers, those who had a drink or two a day tended to perform better on cognitive tests over time. Even when other important factors known to impact cognition such as age, smoking or education level were controlled for, they saw a pattern of light drinking associated with high cognitive trajectories.
More importantly, the thoughts you think about your behaviours have a lot to do with how different substances will affect you. If you believe you are doing something healthy, then likely the result will be positive. If you feel that what you are doing is about to harm you and you do it anyway, then the expectation sets up a potentially negative outcome. Thoughts are things, so choose them wisely.
Summertime – The days are long, warm and sunny. Take the time to get outside as much as possible and enjoy the fresh air. Do it safely and avoid crowds, because this is life in a pandemic after all. Denying that one is happening isn’t working. Act accordingly and stay safe.
Thought of the Day – If your definition of success is waking up in the morning able to get up, move around and live in the world, then you will find it easy to be joyful. Set expectations that you can meet every day and then the rest of what you do is a bonus. Have a successful day.
“I think you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 74 years being able to do that.”
― Bob Newhart