"I just wanna be successful" - Drake and Trey Songz

Drake wanted to be a hip hop star and in his song Successful he defines success as having cars, clothes, money and hoes.  I too aspire to be successful except I define success as simply attaining happiness.  Happiness and success are inextricably linked and it is impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other.  In today’s society everyone wants a good job that will allow them to live in a nice house and drive a nice car. Why? Because for most people it is these material possessions that they believe will make them happy.  To an extent I’m also part of this materialistic society, however I do recognize the fact that money alone cannot buy happiness. Though it can’t buy happiness it DEFINITELY helps.  Think about it: are homeless people or families on welfare ever depicted as being especially happy? The answer is obviously no.  The source of their unhappiness probably stems from their inability to live comfortably.  However it is important to note that the standards involved in living comfortably have significantly changed over the years.  Once upon a time a person was thought to be living comfortably if he or she just had their basic needs met.  But then as time progressed there become new tools to separate the haves from the have nots.  Advertisers began to make it their mission to make you believe you needed a certain something in order to feel happy and fulfilled.  In turn those who couldn’t afford the newest ipod or flat screen TV then felt as if something was missing from their lives.   The truth of the matter is more often than not nothing is missing in these people lives.  People are just made to think something is lacking and then despairingly strive to attain material objects because they think it’s the key to their happiness. Life’s a balancing act between what u want, what you think you want and what you actually need.

I firmly believe that if a person is healthy and has their basic needs met they should feel a certain degree of happiness.  However, sadly society is constantly telling a person whether it is through commercials or billboards that they need the latest in everything  if they want to be happy.   I’d like to again bring up the idea of being successful and how its currently defined. Let me give an example of a  cardiac surgeon making 250,000 dollars a year living in a 400,00 dollar house in the suburbs and a swim coach that barely makes 20,000 and rents a 3 bedroom apartment. I think most people would say without hesitation that the surgeon is a far more successful individual then the swim coach. However I conveniently left out that the surgeon is battling prostate cancer, has a wife who cheats on him and although he fervently wanted to has no children because they were unable to conceive.   He was never passionate about being a surgeon and only pursued such a career to follow in the family’s footsteps.  His real love was for teaching but knew his family would forever condemn him had he chose such a career. The swim coach on the other hand is healthy, happily married and has 2 children whom he adores.  The swim coach chose his salary in an effort to make his program affordable to more families.  Swimming is known as being an expensive sport that is primarily made up of upper middle class whites. The entire family is actively involved in the sport and hopes that in time money will no longer deter people away from the sport.  I’d also like to mention that these examples are not fictional, I know both the surgeon and swim coach.   Who now would you consider successful? This example shows that money should never be the sole indicator of success. “Money just changed everything I wonder how life without it would go…”   -Drake