How are you measured?
Who and what you are
You’ve got the high paying job, maybe a Lamborghini, you make a lot of money, and you’ve achieved quite a reputation for yourself. Now that you’ve attained status, you hold a different kind of responsibility.
Your character will be put to test daily; people will envy you and sometimes even your own will hate you, temptations will come your way, and the devil will work hard to shake your character.
Marcus Aurelius, once the most powerful man in history, would not let that get to him. Instead, of indulging in all the glories life could offer he reigned it in and never forgot to keep his greatest enemy in check, himself.
As an emperor and head of state, he never forgot his duties, first, a father for his family and second, servant to his people.
Nowadays at the instance we can afford it, we hire accountants and assistants to keep our spending in check, and have our duties be reminded to us. Some would say it’s the smart and efficient thing to do, but neither Marcus Aurelius or you, really needed that - if like Aurelius you are mindful of what you are, and not with what you do.
If you really are well within the realm of your own powers, why would you let an accountant dictate what you could or couldn't do with your hard-earned money or plan your vacation or the home you dreamt since you were a child.
A good life is measured by what and who you are - not by what your job, your status or your bank account tells you.
Good relationships and partnerships are the same way, it should not be measured by how many people you were in a relationship or partnered with, but how much you loved. How much effort and connections you cultivated.
Who you are isn’t measured by how well things turned out or how flawless the plan went. But by how much you’ve become when things turned out wrongly, and the wisdom you gained by going through the pain and fire. It should be about the bits of magic, and nuggets of wisdom you stumble upon when you zigged instead of the zag - because it called for it when the plan went awry.
It’s about the moments when things didn’t work out, the times you endured and steeled yourself, it’s about what you learned then, because you turned out just fine and you encountered so much knowledge and opportunities when things didn’t work out.
Those slow progress and tiny transformations you’ve experienced, are what built and made you - able to understand things greater than you could perceive. Through trial by fire and perseverance you learned that the true measure of yourself is found, not by how much you get things right or how successful you are when it’s easy, but by continuously getting better each time you flop, each time you fail and each time you collapse. And realizing that going through pain and suffering, made you strong and experiencing joy and happiness did too.