HealthLifeMental HealthMindfit Life Coaching Chasing Success – Should you?

January 28, 2025by Sharon Castle0

Over the festive season, I did something I rarely do – I watched a lot of television.  Because I often work globally in different time zones and live in South Africa, my evenings are often spent participating in webinars and coaching my overseas clients with an 8 to 10 hour time difference, so there’s little time to do TV watching.  But I indulged over the holidays and enjoyed the time to chill on the couch and relax while being entertained.

Some entertainment is better than others (lol) and there were a few movies based on truth that really impacted me.

The Secret to Happiness Isn’t What You Think.

Many of us spend years chasing success, thinking it will bring us happiness. But as the story of Avicii on Netflix showed (“I’m Tim” & “My Last Show”) and so many others have shown, you can have it all—fame, fortune, and accolades—and still struggle deeply.

It’s a powerful reminder that success is no guarantee of happiness. True peace, joy, and contentment come from within.  For a long while in my own life, I struggled with understanding that regardless of how hard I worked or how much money I made, the secret to happiness is not based on anything I tried to make happen on the ‘outside’ but how I feel about the work and the money on the ‘inside.’  

Mental health is a big subject today and as more and more pressure is felt to have it all,  more and more people find themselves in a state of overwhelm when they believe they don’t have enough and drive themselves to have more.  I’m not underestimating the feeling of hopelessness that is felt when there just isn’t enough to cover what seems essential – we all feel the effects of sometimes worrying about where the money will come from to pay the bills and create a life, but that’s not the way it has to be.

What I am saying is that getting upset and worrying is counterproductive because nobody creates much success in a state of overwhelm and stress and feeling stuck can only come from our own misunderstanding of how the mind works.

One of the other movies I watched that really impacted me was the Norwegian drama about a war hero called ‘Number 24.’  As Gunnar Sonsteby said as an aged man talking about his story in the movie ‘Number 24’ said:  “Happiness and contentment out trumps success every time.”

I had one of the hardest years of my working life in 2024 but it came with a magnificent lesson after almost 13 months of wonder at the contrast of the pain and then the pleasure I experienced. 

I recently came across this quote and it impacted me deeply because it describes the journey I’ve just been on:

 

“Leave the pool you have dug for yourself and go out into the river of life …… 

Life carries you where it will because you are part of itself; 

Then there is no problem of security, 

of what people say or don’t say, and that is the beauty of life.” 

~ J. Krishnamurti

 

All my love

Sharon

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