Success and Loneliness
Something I've been curious about since 9th grade is the relationship between success and loneliness: while being at Whitney, I've seen many successful students in service, academics, or sports, but sometimes I notice that they don't have many people truly behind them, supporting them through thick and thin. Maybe I didn't know the person well enough and his/her situation, but I still wondered if the success was worth it: if it was worth the lack of human connection because they were spending all their time on constantly becoming more successful and allegedly professional. I'm not saying you should not be successful (I'd actually be ecstatic to hear your success stories and what happened behind the scenes) but when this success is attained through the lack of genuine emotional connection with your peers due to time constraints, is it really worth it? I guess it depends on each person and what priorities s/he has in life but I'd personally choose human relationships over success any day. That doesn't mean I'll have absolutely no goals in life: it just means that I'd rather spend a day out with my friends and family rather than spend it stressing over my upcoming plans on "my journey to stardom." There has to be a balance between the two: one that will help you gain success in life while being a sociable and healthy person. Personally life to me is not a game of how many awards or certificates or how much recognition you received, but it is a matter of making a change in someone's life and being there for him/her as a friend and as a family member. Because at the end of it all, you remember who was there for you and for the people who were true to you: not the people who congratulated you for 20 seconds and moved on.