"If only I have more money, I would be very happy."
"If I were as successful as XX, that would be so wonderful and I'd be happier than now."
If you succeed, you achieve something that you have been aiming for. Happy is the feeling, showing or causing pleasure or satisfaction.
From a fleeting thought, almost everyone including myself will think that after being successful, happiness will come hand in hand. But this is not always the case. I have seen a number of successful people, they are successful in all aspect, but not all of them are happy.
People who are successful doesn't mean that they don't have problems/issues. In fact they have more problems than the non-successful ones. Eg, a successful CEO may have lots of power in leading all his subordinates and money in manipulating million dollars investment business. But he has to face lots of problems being in this position. The job is very stressful because he has to be an excellent leader in utilising his people's talents and making sure they listen to his instructions. He has to put in effort in making sure his plans for the investment projects are working properly and not end up flushing his share-holders' money into the drain. He has to answer to his board of directors if the company's performance does not reach a X% profit target. Since he has such a demanding job, most likely he hardly spends enough time with his family. As such, it is likely that he has to bear with his wife's occasional complaints, bear the pain of not being able to play with his kids and not having fun time hanging out with his pals. Will he be happy? Maybe or maybe not, depending what he views and how he feels.
On the other hand, happiness doesn't necessarily mean excitement nor ecstasy. True, when we succeed in accomplishing something we aim and work hard for a long time, we feel excited and a little "happy". But that flush of success is not real happiness. Have you heard of "be a victim of your own success"? That's right. Many years ago I heard a story about a poor man living quite happily with his family. But he always felt the need to being rich in order to be happier. One day his wish was granted and he became rich. He thought the whole family would be truly happy. Nope, he's wrong. The wife started spending lots of time shopping, grooming herself and having fun time with her friends. The kinship between the children was no longer strongly bonded. They became more materialistic and hanging out with their respective companions. At that moment, the man finally realized his success did not bring him happiness.
Anyone (successful or nonsuccessful) can be happy as long as they feel calm, nondisturbed and peace. Happiness actually comes from within.
This is actually an interesting topic to discuss. My mother has always been telling me how she would be more happy if she had X, Y and this and that. I thought so too. But as I age and live vigariously, I come to realize success and happiness DO NOT neccessary come hand in hand. Apparently I read about this topic brought up in a friend's blog asking which one do we go for. I felt an urge to blog a bit about this here.
I admit I am trying to accomplish my dreams in this life and hope that one day I can be successful. But accomplishment is never ending. Once we've achieved A, we may want to achieve B and so forth. Success is also a relative measurement. With that said, I wish to make the best of my life but certainly I want to have constant happiness regardless how successful I will be in the end. How about you?
♥ every page of my imagination
