By Erica Gustafson, Opinion Editor
Even before America got its name, people believed in the concept of the “American Dream.” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the American Dream as “a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S., especially by working hard and becoming successful.”
The question is, what truly defines the term successful? Do people have different ideas of what it means to find success in life?
A general idea of this is having a nice house, car, a great career, money, family and many more extravagant things in life. These things are not bad to have, but are they really what makes a person a success?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary sets a broad definition of success compared to most generalized ideas. Success is a noun that refers to a degree or measure of succeeding. It is a favorable or desired object or end that is attained by people.
When putting this into context, people have different desires and things they want to achieve in life. I am not saying that people can really make a comfortable life for themselves without food and some sort of home. However, it may not be the one thing that they put ahead of others.
One of the most prominent influences I see regarding success is the constant comparison to people’s role models. Major league athletes, actors, musicians, celebrities, internet influencers and so many more individuals fall into this category. People of all ages look up to these individuals for guidance in several, if not all, aspects of their own life.
It is not a bad thing to have a role model to look up to. However, things begin to negatively affect your life when you start moving away from your own personal morals and beliefs.
Copying your favorite role model can be a detrimental factor to your personal identity. We are all very different, and constantly comparing ourselves to one another degrades our self-identity which can lead us astray from our true life goals.
Chris Dessi, a personal branding expert, wrote an article on April 28, 2017, for inc.com addressing defining our own versions of success. Dessi wrote about how a person will never achieve success if they are focusing on everyone else’s idea of what it is.
This is a difficult thing to grasp when you are constantly surrounded by social influences.
Despite this, Matthew McConaughey made a point to talk about his personal hero in his Best Actor award speech at the 2014 Oscars. His example describes a great way for people to look for their own success and set goals for, themselves.
McConaughey states, “When I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say, ‘Who is your hero?’ And I say I don’t know, I gotta think about that; give me a couple of weeks. I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says, ‘Who’s your hero?’ And so I thought about it, and I said you know who it is; it’s me in 10 years.”
He continues with, “So I turn 25. 10 years later that same person comes to me and goes ‘so are you a hero?’ And I was like, not even close. No, no, no. She said, ‘Why?’ I said because my hero is me at 35. So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero is always 10 years away.”
This speech has been a great example for me thinking about the people I look up to and where I want to be in future years. I realized that people do not need to compare their own success to one another to be happy in their life choices. We are all very different. We have different needs and wants. Life is not going to be the same for everyone, and we do not all have the same goals set for ourselves.
gustafea18@bonaventure.edu.
