Recently, one of my uber-cool subscribers posed a scenario to me:”What do you do when you have found a great new job in a new country and you’re excited but friends don’t share the same excitement? In fact, they put a dampener on your joy?” Congrats! It’s a brave decision to take a job that is new and exciting, with all the challenges that come with it!
Most of us are working towards achieving success in different areas of our lives, be that health and fitness, wealth, job/career, social life, dating and so on. They all require varying degrees of commitment and investment of time, mental and physical energy or money. So, for each of these areas, success can mean different things to all of us.
When you know that you have been working hard to create success in your life and you attain it, it can and should, light up your own day as well as those around you.Your diligence, effort, smart focused attention as well as an inner self-belief that you deserve to be happy all pay off; it’s definitely a time to celebrate your success!
However, when this is not shared by certain friends or family, it may seem as if you have to play down your achievement to spare their feelings. In reality, their reaction says more about how they currently see their life, and less about your success. Their reaction could be a mixture of so many things and really unless they say what that is, who knows! It could be that your success has made them realise:
-how well they perceive themselves to not be doing (in comparison to you)
-how much they want what you have but they don’t have,
-the different direction that their life is going in with new priorities,
-they may feel threatened by your good fortune,
-not good enough, unworthy, undeserving etc,
-left behind, resentful, insecure, jealous, regretful and so on . . .
How you allow yourself to feel depending on their reaction/judgments is in fact the ‘inner space’ where you can choose to be in charge of managing your happiness and joy. It’s really for the other person to be open and honest about what’s up and if they choose not to then I’d say don’t fret about it, otherwise you’ll have missed the good stuff happening right in front of you. If, on the other hand, they decide to acknowledge how they are authentically feeling then it can open up so much new learning, self-respect and personal development which can’t be a bad thing! The most important thing is that your self-esteem is stable, you’re proud of achieving your goals, and that your life is going in the direction that you want it to.
Three final pearls of wisdom:
1 .Always celebrate your success with friends, family or colleagues that are I 00% in your corner-if something makes you happy, then being a part of your happiness should be a pleasure!
2. Each of us is living and experiencing our own life experience and you absolutely have the right to create a life that fulfils you and is part of your own destiny. Only you know what that looks, feels and sounds like. Enjoy it and embrace it!
3. Live your life’s journey for yourself, alongside the people that empower you to grow as a person. Life is today to make the most of who you are!
What does this blog inspire you to do? Do you have something to celebrate that you’re proud of achieving? Or have you discovered a personal insight about being a better person to the people around you?