Patti Turner

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Home » success

What is success?

September 12, 2012 by Patti

While pondering life, love, the universe, and the meaning of life, it led me to wonder how one can measure whether their life is lived with success.  Achieve great things? Drive the Curiosity on Mars?  Make a new discovery? Accumulate wealth?  Devote oneself to charity or religion?  Since I’d already decided failure is not an option, I felt the need to define success.

How do you define success and the meaning in life?

While perusing some old books on my shelf, I happened upon this passage by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

What is success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affections of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
That is to have succeeded.

A beautiful definition, so simple in theory, yet so difficult to achieve.

In my job as a nurse, I get the opportunity to make a person’s life easier every day.  To make a difference, give them a positive experience in scary circumstances, and end my shift knowing that person breathed easier because I lived.  That’s a tall order.  It’s hard to keep your game face on every day when you’re overworked, tired, haven’t eaten, or feel stress from home.  But every time I walk into a patient’s room, I know I have the power to make a difference.  I must succeed.  Failure is not an option.  If I can’t accomplish this, then I will have failed my patient, the patient’s family, and myself.

Another item I’m working on is appreciating beauty.  My view from the hilltop is spectacular.  Each day brings a display of light over the mountain view unlike any day before it. I’ve learned to sit and watch the changing perspectives, solely for the sake of appreciating the beauty around me.

The rest:  working on it.

 

 

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Filed Under: Words worth repeating Tagged With: Failure is not an option, Hilltop reservation, nurse, Ralph Waldo Emerson, success, View from the Hilltop

Failure is not an option.

September 7, 2012 by Patti

Failure is not an option. Period.  End of story.

So often, I hear people say “I can’t”.  You can’t, or you won’t try? Yes you can. “Just do it” (Thank you, Nike).  You can and you will.

A positive attitude will take you where you want to go.  Can’t achieve your goal in an instant, all at once, or in a short time frame?  Measure your progress in degrees of success. A small step forward is still progress toward your goals. Don’t sell yourself short.  You have more gumption than you know.

What keeps you going in the face of adversity?

Keeping a positive attitude keeps me on track. There is always that small voice in the background saying “you can’t, you’re not good enough”.  It takes a lot to beat the voice down.  I need to be reminded often that “failure is not an option”.  How?  I wear this necklace at all times.  Okay, I did take it off for my son’s and my daughter’s wedding to wear a more formal piece.  Otherwise, I never take it off.  Each day I wake up and look in the mirror, I am reminded that I can do it. Failure is not an option.

Failure is not an optionJust do it!

 

 

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Filed Under: Words worth repeating Tagged With: inspiration, just do it!, success

Welcome!

I'm Patti Turner, labor & delivery nurse by day and writer by night. I enjoy writing fiction, reading, cooking vegetarian food, traveling the world, and photographing everything. Read More…

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