Being successful in life is determined by the levels of success in the many facets of our lives. Since every individual is different, and the title of this article is “How to tell if YOU’RE successful in life,” several questions must be considered in making the conclusion:

Have you been able to overcome negavity in your life, such as loss, betrayal, and failure? Or have you allowed negativity to hold you back?

Do you have inner peace with yourself and others? Or do you have many unresolved conflicts with those around you?

Have you achieved your personal and professional goals? Are you still figuring out what they are?

Have you learned from your mistakes, or do you keep repeating them?

Do you have compassion for those around yous? Or do you look the other way when your help is needed?

Are you controlled by your material possessions, or addictions?

Do you have close relationships and love in your life, do you feel alone?

Everyone has different goals and ideals for how their life should be. Who is to say that you are only a successful student if you get A’s, or that you are only successful in relationships if you’ve never gotten a divorce? We are all here for different reasons. Some of us make it a goal to have a successful career. Does that mean that we only succeed if we become millionaires?

Major goals in life usually include our career/job, and family/relationships, financial stability. If your goal in life was to find a great job, that you enjoy going to everyday, getting married and having children, and you have been lucky enough to achieve those goals, then it is safe to say you are successful in life.

It is possible to be very successful in your professional life, having lots of money and big toys, but are you really successful in life if you have failed miserably in your personal life and have no one to walk beside you?

Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror?

Sometimes we must figure out how to improve ourselves, in order for the rest of our goals to fall into place. An example of this is a personal struggle I have experienced my whole life with keeping a clean house. Everyone wants a clean house, right? Well having a clean house was important to me, however, I struggled with actually getting it done. Many have judged me because my house was always cluttered and the floors were hardly ever vaccuumed. I was too busy trying to work, go to college, and raise three children, and make sure dishes, laundry and dinner was done each day, not to mention making sure my fiance’s needs were taken care of.

However, the underlying problem leading to the house being dirty stemmed from untreated depression and anxiety issues. The depression caused me to feel overwhelmed and helpless. I didn’t have the energy to accomplish everything by myself and I didn’t have my family’s cooperation to help get everything done. It was only when I freed myself of an abusive relationship - I had to move 2000 miles away from my own mother, that I was able to find joy and happiness with cleaning my house. I found a house I can call home, I overcame the negativity that had been holding me down my whole life, at last I could focus on not only cleaning, but actually finding joy in achieving my goal. When I open the door to my home, I no longer feel depressed. I feel joy when I walk in the door. I still have many other goals to achieve before I can consider my life to be a success. Quitting smoking is my next hurdle.

No matter what your goals may be to achieve success, you have to start somewhere! The key is to not let anyone hold you back or steal your sunshine.