Today, I accompanied a friend to visit her great aunt in a rehabilitation centre.  She recently had a fall in her own home and is working to get her strength back to regain her independence. This great aunt is nearly 101. She has a lot of spunk and clearly has her own ideas about longevity. She spoke to me about how she would walk miles into town every day even when she was well into her 70s.  This reflected her desire to keep healthy, and to continue to challenge herself.

I think about how her attitude and plans to live a meaningful life shape her sense of success.  This is not the traditional success we think about that brings thoughts of money, fame or other kinds of prosperity. Instead, this success relates to a sense of accomplishment at different life phases. How we feel about ourselves reminds us to be grateful we have the strength and will to get up in the morning. Remind yourself how many people can not longer take that for granted. Success could mean having the ability to define the life you wish to lead and actually doing it.

Some cultures don't like the idea of retirement or nursing homes. On a personal level, we don't necessarily like placing family members in such facilities. Imagine how older relatives might feel. Imagine how you would feel if you were placed in such a place and were unable to function menatlly, physically, emotionally as you one did. Would this contribute to your sense of failure?  Perhaps success is far more intimate than we might've realized.  It may be less an idea imposed by people around us than how compatible our real abilities are with our own expectations.