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2010/07/15
Lifestyle:
How do you measure success and happiness? |
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The other chosen one of the Winners for our ZAGlamour "Writer's Competition", only to be called "The Pundit One" is somewhat of an enigma to us. Firstly, no personal details were given with regards to who wrote the piece apart from a strange profile description (found in "Writer's Profile" by clicking on the thumbnail image at the bottom of the article), which even the geekiest of editorial-junkies struggled to decipher.
Without further adieu, we present to you..."The Pundit One"...
Welcome to ZAGlamour "The Pundit One", we look forward to reading what mystic revelations you have have in store for us.
Regards
David and The ZAGlamour Team
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It all makes sense now...
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Over the last month I have met many challenges, most of which have been of this world. I have found out what true contradiction means – Customer Service at a bank branch. I have encountered the borders that men have created, and the hoops these men require you to jump through in order to pass this now tangible line. Like Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor and one of the pivotal characters in The Lord of the Rings, I tackled these challenges head on. Whether triumphant or not, I managed to get to other end relatively unscathed.
The Lord of the Rings however, was not one of the most successful novels of all time due to just the brutish external battle of man; essential to the story was the battle that Frodo embarked on. The internal one, with the burden of the ring that attempted to corrupt the otherwise good natured hobbit with every step he took.
Much like Frodo, I too have been fighting unseen demons, and compared to the external battle these obstacles have been far more daunting.
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All these battles can be summed into one question: What is success?
Over the last two months, I have encountered men that would meet anyone’s definition of “success”. Well educated individuals, who have much of their lives mapped out before them, the type of people who do not look for jobs, but rather are offered them. Along with sign on bonuses, and the perks we only dream of – at this point the internal battle started.
I considered my own life and the different avenues that were open to me at the start the decade and felt nothing but regret for opportunities lost.
For some reason, unbeknown to me, these men who I owe no allegiance too turned my life inside out, and forced me to look into the mirror and ask the hardest question of all: Have you been a success?
This question brought nothing forward but insecurities and more feelings of opportunities wasted – which led to another question – how does one define success?
How many of you have taken the time to define what that means to you? You have some idea of what success looks like, may even know what this feels like. However are these brief encounters driven by our parents, culture or society’s definitions of success? Yet, with an undefined end point we wake up every morning and strive to reach it. If this idea or destination is undefined, how will we ever know when we reach it? How will we know how close we are, or how far we still have to walk?
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The next thought I took to the fires of Mordor was the idea of missed opportunities. I kept telling myself, I should have trained harder, studied more, run faster and definitely gone to more lectures. I had created the excuses which have now cemented themselves as the reasons for missing these chances to become something more. In a moment or pure honesty I asked myself: if these reasons (or excuses) had not been there would I have had the conviction to do more – unfortunately... I think not...
In my own thoughts, while wondering the narrow allies of the Shire, I came to the conclusion that there are no missed opportunities, just different paths. The ones we walked and the ones the more ”successful” version of ourselves would have walked. While trying to get to know the more successful version of myself I found him to be as much of a stranger as pork is to a Rabbi.
I created this stranger exclusively from a list of my best attributes and he always strove towards a definition of success that was not my own. I constantly bench marked my own progress to his. I continued to do so in spite of the fact that this creation wandered middle earth encountering no real circumstances or obstacles. Had he done so, he would have been revealed to be nothing more than the fantasy he really is.
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Finding that version is never easy...
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The next thought I took to the fires of Mordor was the idea of missed opportunities. I kept telling myself, I should have trained harder, studied more, run faster and definitely gone to more lectures. I had created the excuses which have now cemented themselves as the reasons for missing these chances to become something more. In a moment or pure honesty I asked myself: if these reasons (or excuses) had not been there would I have had the conviction to do more – unfortunately... I think not...
In my own thoughts, while wondering the narrow allies of the Shire, I came to the conclusion that there are no missed opportunities, just different paths. The ones we walked and the ones the more ”successful” version of ourselves would have walked. While trying to get to know the more successful version of myself I found him to be as much of a stranger as pork is to a Rabbi.
I created this stranger exclusively from a list of my best attributes and he always strove towards a definition of success that was not my own. I constantly bench marked my own progress to his. I continued to do so in spite of the fact that this creation wandered middle earth encountering no real circumstances or obstacles. Had he done so, he would have been revealed to be nothing more than the fantasy he really is.
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In truth, the only difference between myself and the men I have met over the last couple of months is the definition, and therefore the destination. They have taken the time and chosen the path that serves them best, the one that allows their gifts to shine brightest. It was this enchanting glow that got me asking the hardest questions of myself, the glow that I have come to realise is not a gift for a select few. This light is not limited to the fantasy version of ourselves we constantly race against, but rather it is a right for anyone that takes the time to understand their own light.
These men have defined what success means, they have a clear idea of the mountain in front of them.
I will not spend another day without my map, will you?
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Writer, The Pundit One 
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