Redefining Success: A Personal Journey of Discovery and Survival

1000 Words2 Pages

What Is Success? Success is not earning a fat juicy check at the end of each month, or being a part of a large social group filled with fraudulent people that appear as familiar faces. But it is a person discovering him or herself after they had been lost and establishing a sense of purpose that makes them fills them with a warm glowing sense of accomplishment. Success does not have one transparent definition, it has various meanings depending on what success means to the individual trying to achieve it. Success is surviving. Accepting reality is crucial to becoming successful and surviving. Whether it is accepting the death of a loved one or accepting the reality that you will never go home, accepting reality is always the first step. Jack London, author of To Build A Fire claims “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club”. London is explaining that change does not happen by itself, you have to make it happen. Which is exactly what Cheryl Strayed and Chris McCandless did. Cheryl saw what was wrong with her life and she was unsatisfied so she changed it. And Chris packed up and left society behind to accomplish what he set out to do. She became successful in that she found herself and her sense of purpose, sadly Chris had his epiphany too late and was not as successful as Walking into a dangerous situation without the right number of people or amount of equipment can determine whether you live or tragically die. The protagonist in Jack London’s To Build a Fire decided to set out on his journey alone and when it came down to it, he could have survived had he brought another person with him. He was slowly freezing to death and could not build a fire to save his life, if another man was with him, they might have been able to help assist him and his chances of surviving would have been much higher. “He was a newcomer to the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter” (London). Which gave him the appeal of being a newbie and since it was his first time, he did not come prepared enough. Another man who made the mistake of traveling unprepared was Chris McCandless, Chris packed lightly, almost too lightly in fact that it would be another leading cause of his death. It may not be “what’s in your pack that separates the quick from the dead” (Gonzales), but it does not hurt to come prepared. Nobody is sorry they brought enough equipment but people are sorry if they didn’t bring any. Neither of these men were successful and maybe if they had been more equipped to handle their situations, they could have

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