Chasing Success
“Go get it!” For those of you who are like me who were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, this is what we heard needed to be done to see success. I’m not talking about the ones who feel entitled but the ones who believe that anything worth having, is worth going after. This statement is true but sometimes we get so caught up with chasing success and neglect chasing after who we really are and what we were created to do. When defining success, technically, there is no one size fit all definition. If we took the time to be real with ourselves, success has a definition of its own. What one may deem as successful the next person may not see it as such. But even in this, society still has it’s way of defining what is and is not successful which is the common ground we tend to commonly judge people on. The two most popular definitions of success in society are fame (or popularity) and money. In today’s world, if you at least have one, you’re automatically deemed successful.
Many display the appearance of success so that others think they have it all together. While this appearance of success is not success at all, we as a people will try our best to imitate the lie that we see. Even though the “keeping up with the Jones” effect has always been around, we definitely have social media to thank for the major increase in it. Let me tell you something. The “Jones” are a lie!!!! The truth is, they don’t have it all together. But they’re going to make you think they do. They can easily lean up against a random Maserati, snap a picture, and create a post online stating how their hard work got them their dream car. Or better yet, they actually own the Maserati but they’re in major debt and are in jeopardy of getting their car repossessed due to not being able to make the necessary payments on it. They try to tag God’s name in the post by saying He blessed them with the car. Yeah right…. that’s NOT a blessing; that’s a curse on wheels. However, you see their post and wonder why you aren’t getting a return on your hard work and why God’s not blessing you. You basically compare your life with the LIE they posted. The reason a person compares their life to a lie is the same warped reason a person feels the need to post a lie. It’s all because of the overwhelming desire to look successful.
In my own life, I became exhausted chasing after success. Fame was never my drive but making a lot of money and being established was. It never really occurred to me that chasing was what I was doing but that’s pretty much what I had been doing. I would push hard toward one goal and right after obtaining it, I’d quickly set up a new goal and sprint toward that. I felt like I was always running. Was there even a finish line? I seemed to never make it to an actual destination. I never relaxed and was never happy in what I had already obtained or grateful for what I had already accomplished. The excitement of achievement was always momentary. I was always going and moving because being successful means never being stagnant, right? I had to keep making moves. It wasn’t enough to graduate college; I had to also quickly obtain a career in the field I studied in. It wasn’t enough to get the career; I had to also quickly obtain CPA certification. It wasn’t enough to build and purchase a house at twenty four; I desired to have a husband and children as well. The cycle was NEVER ending.
I can remember a conversation with my aunt that sticks with me to this day. A few days after graduating college, I had began looking for jobs and had also started studying for the CPA (Certified Public Accounting) exam. She told me to slow down and enjoy life. I tried convincing her that after passing the exam, I’d slow down. And she pointed out that after the exam, I’d come up with a new thing to run after and the cycle would continue. I believe she was the first one to acknowledge the “chase factor” in me that I neglected to see in myself. The sad part is, even though she created that awareness in me, I continued chasing after the thing called success until major disappointment stopped me dead in my tracks.
The disappointment of failing the CPA exam after multiple attempts made me stop. I literally stopped one day and asked, “what am I running for? What am I running toward? Why am I even doing this? I don’t even LIKE this!!!” Then I realized that all of this was not for me. I took an even deeper look and came into the knowledge that I couldn’t even say it was for God. There was nothing in my life confirming that everything I was chasing lined up with the purpose God had for me. And if it’s not for either me or Him, all of this running I was doing had to be directed toward pleasing other people. The word of God in Galatians 1:10 says,
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (NIV)
As much as I’d hate to say it, my motivation derived out of pleasing other people. The majority of those people I’m sure cared little to nothing about me. I started to enjoy life more when I stopped chasing after society’s definition of success and evaluated what made me happy. Instead of chasing success, I started to commune with God more and asked Him to lead me into my purpose. A life of chasing really isn’t a life at all but when God reveals and releases purpose, things seem to come in alignment.
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11(NIV).
Instead of chasing success, chase God. He has great plans for your life. When you chase God, success naturally follows because God can’t fail. God can bring you success, but success won’t bring you God. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t set goals to achieve; it’s just the motive behind achieving them that should be evaluated. How important is obtaining a goal when there’s no validity to why you’re doing it in the first place? Pursue after your calling and purpose and not after what everyone else thinks you should have or what you see that others have. Remember that the perception of success is not true success. You don’t know what lies behind the appearance. A person could be working themselves to death just to maintain a show. And honestly, how can a person be successful when they have no peace of mind? Trust me. Continuing to chase after success will have you running like a hamster on a hamster wheel. You’ll just keep running until you’re exhausted and finally hop off. Learn to stop and enjoy what you’ve done so far and allow God to intercede in your pursuit.
