| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Your definition of Journey

Page history last edited by ShareRiff 13 years, 6 months ago

"Success is not a destination but a journey"

YouTube plugin error

This quote was posted on my page Aberlyna Danelle <3 it seems to be attracting a lot of attention from my fellow classmates one person asked , So if success is not a destination but a journey, what is the definition of a journey?-(ChocolatePrincess;) So I decided to bring it to the public. What's your personal definition of the journey presented in the quote?

Ready, Set, COMMENT[1]

 

     Like I stated above, success is immeasurable. The closest any one person can come to saying that they have had “success” is directly related to how much satisfaction they have gained from a certain conclusion, whether it is personal or shared satisfaction doesn’t matter. That being said, success is happiness, pure and simple.
     Life is the journey, period. On this journey or throughout our lifetime, however you want to perceive it, we have one ultimate goal: to obtain happiness. Now, what makes us happy varies individually of course. As we walk, sprint, or drag along the road of life, our individual or collaborative accomplishments can be deemed as success as long as they bring you, as an individual, satisfaction. The way I see it, success is not a goal, it’s not an end point or anything that you can arrive at, but rather that simple feeling of satisfaction or happiness that one obtains as we go through life. Therefore,     “Success is not a destination but a journey”, don’t limit yourself.
     We, as Americans, have the God-given right to the “Pursuit of Happiness”, to have a chance at being successful, to have a chance to gain personal satisfaction. Here’s a question that you should mull over, “What is happiness?” Can you really answer that? It’s different for every person, some might consider it to be more fleeting and others seem to be in a constant state of happiness. Determining what makes you happy as an individual could help you to turn the messy, overgrown trail of life into the Autobahn.

 

see also:

Lead Learn Serve

 

tags: week two blogs

 

     Success, to me, is some one's else idea. Can I be successful on my own terms if the idea of success comes from something outside of me? It's moments like these that I ask myself, "What does Bob Dylan sing"?  "In the dime stores and bus stations/People talk of situations/Read books, repeat quotations/Draw conclusions on the wall/Some speak of the future/My love she speaks softly/She knows there's no success like failure/And that failure's no success at all". No, I think (my) life has little to do with success. That's not my measuring stick. In fact, I don’t have a measuring stick. I hope. That’s all. I like the journey though (not the band, hate the band). I feel that I need to be as prepared as I can be for whatever happens, because I honestly don't know what will happen. I hope the sun comes up tomorrow and that the Pacific Ocean really does exist.

     The "pursuit of happiness" remark triggered a memory of an Arthur Miller interview. A bunch of Brits were discussing why Miller is the (only) American dramatist worthy of critical examination, and by extension, admittance into the canon. Of course, they were discussing the usual suspects: Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Anyway, one of the critics, with his 'posh' accent, noted that we (the USA) are the only country on earth which utilizes that language (i.e. the pursuit of happiness) in our national narrative. His remark refracts (this may not be the right word) the concept of the American Dream into legal code, which I think is funny.

     Oh, and my rights are the product of people going out there and demanding them. I’ve never been ‘given’ a right. You gotta take them!

     As for happiness…like we discussed in class, isn’t there a pill for that? I would rather have peace. It seems like my "pursuit" of happiness can be translated into a lot of tragedy for others.  By the way April, I finished reading for tomorrow night and I am in complete agreement with you. I wrote down all the pages which contained derogatory statements about the working class student. Tomorrow, we will have plenty to talk about! See you then!  - Meghan

 

     This article helped me better understand what a journey is..  http://www.helium.com/items/1463028-life-is-a-journey , "The passing of time is the biggest journey that any of us will undertake, and the best thing is, it's unavoidable. It is impossible to stop time, so you need to treat life as a journey because life is a journey. Sure, there are some destinations along the way, such as graduation, marriage, childbirth, and more, but when you get down to it, life is ever-changing and there's nothing you can do to stop it." I could not have said it better than David White because I completely agree with him that a journey is your life and a destination are the goals you achieve throughout life. Basically life is always changing but as time passes that is the most amazing journey you can go through because, time teaches lessons and if you learn from the journey of life you will achieve your destination of success. At times I feel like life can be a game and that the more you learn the ropes and understand how life works the easier the journey gets and the faster you reach your always changing destination. Like White said, destination might be graduation, or your first job, but really the journey of life is what is important. Although we might not all have the same destinations the way we get there is always the same because we all take the journey or path of life. No matter what you want to call it a journey is what leads you to your "happiness" or "success." A journey to me is the experience of life and it is totally worth it to take the ride! - Ehle

 

--

Preface - Be aware I am not attacking anyone who values this expression.  This is mostly my playing devil's advocate to explore my own ideas.

I've heard this expression several times and wanted its source.  Was it a happy go lucky motivational speaker?  A deep thinking philosopher?  Arthur Ashe comes up a lot when you Google it.  Unfortunately, it's taken on many forms through the years so its originator may be lost to history.  One thing's for sure from how I read it - it doesn't move me to try harder, persist in my goals, or keep my chin up through adversity.

I hear it and think it's trying to minimize not reaching one's goals.  Personally, I don’t really think anyone ultimately ever reaches ‘success’.  Yes, success takes on many forms.  Once you define it and reach it - then what?  But most often, when someone says this expression, it's used in a way to assuage someone's failure to reach a goal and they’ve become despondent.

Frankly, the expression is almost meaningless to me.  Something you see printed on one of those black-bordered motivational posters with a photogenic desolate highway in the middle of nowhere.  A cliché.

Really, what am I supposed to do with this information?  Be more optimistic?  Try harder than I already do?  What the expression really does - in my opinion - is to keep you where you are - happy in stasis.  Let me explain.  

If you haven't reached what you consider to be "success", over time you're apt to tire, get down on yourself, become frustrated, etc.  However, with one little pick me up of "Hey, success is a journey, not a destination", everything is supposed to be better.  Don't sweat it - it's okay.  Not reaching your goals can be your success.  Upon reflection, it actually puts me in mind a little of Orwell's Big Brother telling the masses, "War is peace" and "Ignorance is strength".  I'd rather hear: If you want something, go get it.  Don’t stop.  Try harder.  Don't give up.  Puffy clouds and euphemisms don't go very far with me.

One’s life is a journey.  What you do in life becomes a success or failure (mostly something in between)... all of which can only be defined by the one living it.  If someone's pinnacle is a tent in the woods without electricity or running water and they eat only what they can gather - more power to them.  If that makes them happy and they've accomplished what they set out to do, I'm not about to call them on it. ~ Boda

 

YouTube plugin error YouTube plugin error

 

     I posted this video, because success can't really be defined and in the end we all just wanna be...successful like drake says. We're all on different mission in life to get "here" as Matthew Morrin would call it. I considered my destiny to be my holy grail and everyday I live life strive to get  to it. The journey in life is the process. It's the successes it's the mistakes. It's all the attempts and trials that it takes to get what we want in life.

"The pursuit of Happiness"

This quote really gets to me, everyone is always talking about how were entitled to the pursuit of happiness. What this says to me is that happiness isn't within reach to everyone. It says to me that you can work your ass off all your life and still never truly be happy. But the thing is we will never know if we're destined to be happy so we keep fighting, keep striving for the undetermined goal.  Will smith says it best in the clip above, we must "protect our dreams" no one knows what's next for us. So don't let people place limits on your life, or what your can be.     -Aberlyna Danelle <3

 

Here, Kelsey Hastings reflects on early experience with "success" in the realm of writing, when, in 3rd grade, she intuitively disavowed a prescribed rubric/limit and let the Muses do the talking.  Kelsey uses this anecdote to anchor and share the feeling that "success" seems to be a matter of a continually unfolding realization. "It wasn't until much later that I realized that none of my experiences were all that unique, and that they didn't have to be for me to be a good writer - what makes writing so special is how arbitrary, man-made language can catalyze both personal and universal experience" - My Journey as a Writer (to be continued, of course)

 

YouTube plugin error

I know we were focusing on journey, so I think the journey before you reach success is the most important part. There are many things you have to realize when aiming for success. Dr. Conner just said, “Your process is your product.” So every little thing you do, will have an effect, whether small or large, on your success. When I thought about success a little more, I remembered this video. This man says a lot of things that will make you question how bad you want your own success. If you check out the video, how many of us would go the extra mile to be successful? Like my mom always say, "I can show you better than I can tell you." We say so much to explain where we wanna go and how we want to get there, but success is making everything we desire a reality. Taking a journey and choosing the right path. Journey is choosing a path that may not always be the best choice at first, but it works out it in the end. You also have endure trials and tribulations. Taking a journey will NEVER be easy, but you can't let people that come along, stop the process. You also have to sometimes let your guard down for people to encourage you. Journeys are not meant to taken alone as was seen through Dante's Inferno. You have to take somebody with you. When you end the journey, it's not really over yet. You may have found success in a certain thing, but there is always something else that you are seeking success for.

 

YouTube plugin error  

 

This quote is bringing up so much discussion because it is a lot like the famous riddle, "which came first the chick or the egg?" This quote is a revolving circle that everyone takes up their own view of but  because success is such a vague title no one can easily tell where it begins nor ends. Success is an idea and unless clearly defined, this quote will continue to mind boggle everyone who reads it. For example some people may define success by income, others by how famous you are, and still others define success by happiness. In this sense, it would make no sense to say success is a journey rather than a destination. A journey is a voyage or trip to a point. Based on this quote that would mean that you are not on the journey to success but rather that success is the journey. That is like saying if you are driving to Tampa for school, that the driving is the success instead of reaching Tampa to go to school. If that was the case than reaching Tampa would not be important and you would just keep driving seeing  that the journey is the success. In this video that I put up, Ice "Billion" Berg explains his love for money as he defines income as his success. This is the same success that I share and is why this would make the perfect video to show my definition of both success and journey. I'm on the road to riches, its just a little traffic on the way. -Caleb F

 

 

What is my definition of a journey? I'm not too sure but I'll try my best to describe it. All journeys start in the same place, the beginning. A person's journey starts from the moment they take their first breath. From that point on your journey is more or less a maze which means that your decisions affect the path you take. No journey is ever easy, there are ups and downs, bends, even u-turns. This all leads to another decision, do you face the obstacle head on and continue? or do you run away from the problem and forget about it? If you think about it, a journey has another function. It tests your ability to handle situations and resolve problems.

All journeys are different and some of them intertwine. For example, we in the English class are also part of the Lead Learn Serve Program, so this is our journey together. No one can complete a journey on their own. With that in mind, use your journey as an opportunity to meet new people and develop lasting relationships with those around you. That's my definition of a journey.  - Ronald Glace - RonnyG's Page

 

     My definition of a journey? Well that is a long definition. To start off "In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time." I believe in journeys in order to succeed in them you have to fail. Failing is a normal human responce. Everyone is not born into greatness, most of us need to earn our success. When we are working for that success we have to fail to learn and when we learn we succeed. Every journey is different, sure, but through every journey you need to fail in order to succeed. When you fail you learn alot about yourself. Im not saying if your not failing your not going to succeed. Im saying you do not always have to be perfect. It is OKAY to fail.

-Danielle Heck  Danielle Renee <3

Footnotes

  1. as we did in class today, start with a comment, but then go further, and write 3 paragraphs in response to this prompt.

Comments (14)

JazzieBee:) said

at 11:49 am on Aug 31, 2010

out of this quote i think journey would mean all the things it took to reach the destination because those are the things that matter the most.

aberlicious said

at 11:51 am on Aug 31, 2010

Personally I Believe that this quote means that success is never an end..there are no periods it is forever going. You have little amounts of success as you travel through life. Live life for the experiences, because those are the things you learn from. If you could reach success,you've kinda hit the climax of your life and now your traveling down the path of having a conclusion before your even dead.

Javi said

at 11:51 am on Aug 31, 2010

Success is a constant unattainable destination, because you can always be more successful?

April Sopczak said

at 12:14 pm on Aug 31, 2010

It is the journey because the journey doesn't stop until you are dead. If it is the destination then after each piece of success, you have the "and then what" because life keeps going. So, if you define success as a particular place in your life, it's game over once you reach it. However, if you define it as the journey, then life is wide open to any number of amazing experiences that simply add to your journey and thereby your success. Your success becomes immeasurable and infinite.

(In case you are wondering, I'm in the 6319 class)

aberlicious said

at 12:17 pm on Aug 31, 2010

Wonderful, I completely agree and appreciate your comments!!!

Ehle so fly said

at 12:16 pm on Aug 31, 2010

the way you flow in your writing is amazing.. do you have a specific anecdote for that?

Ehle so fly said

at 12:17 pm on Aug 31, 2010

journey= the way you map out your own life, you choose your success.

Danielle Renee Heck said

at 12:18 pm on Aug 31, 2010

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.

Andrea said

at 9:39 pm on Aug 31, 2010

For me, journey is knowing where you want to end up, but not knowing exactly how to get there. It's waking up every morning and not knowing what will happen today - even if you have things mapped out. It's the mystery of life, and how we choose to observe the mystery of life decides how great or awful our journey is. Those of us who do not like disorder have a harder time living life and just going with the flow, so their journey is a little more stressful. But at the end of the journey, when we're about to die, we only truly know how successful our journey was.

Tim said

at 4:42 pm on Sep 1, 2010

Success can’t be measured, because what seems successful to one may not seem successful to another. For example, a robbery: If the police catch em it’s considered success for them but failure for the robbers, but inversely if the robbers get away then they deem it successful and the cops deem it a failure.

Like I stated above, success is immeasurable. The closest any one person can come to saying that they have had “success” is directly related to how much satisfaction they have gained from a certain conclusion, whether it is personal or shared satisfaction doesn’t matter. That being said, success is happiness, pure and simple.
Life is the journey, period. On this journey or throughout our lifetime, however you want to perceive it, we have one ultimate goal: to obtain happiness. Now, what makes us happy varies individually of course. As we walk, sprint, or drag along the road of life, our individual or collaborative accomplishments can be deemed as success as long as they bring you, as an individual, satisfaction. The way I see it, success is not a goal, it’s not an end point or anything that you can arrive at, but rather that simple feeling of satisfaction or happiness that one obtains as we go through life. Therefore, “Success is not a destination but a journey”, don’t limit yourself.
We, as Americans, have the God-given right to the “Pursuit of Happiness”, to have a chance at being successful, to have a chance to gain personal satisfaction. Here’s a question that you should mull over, “What is happiness?” Can you really answer that? It’s different for every person, some might consider it to be more fleeting and others seem to be in a constant state of happiness. Determining what makes you happy as an individual could help you to turn the messy, overgrown trail of life into the Autobahn.

jose carreto said

at 9:35 am on Sep 2, 2010

i believe that the quote means that succcess can never be reached because success is not perfectly defined. Every person has there own idea of success so one can only be successful to his own idea of success. Also, i believe that this quote means that one becomes successful through learning and observing what he/she is going through what mistakes he has made and how he/she can learn from those mistakes and other people in in he/she life.

Caleb Francois said

at 5:42 pm on Sep 4, 2010

this quote is like the famous riddle, "which came first the chicken or the egg?" Its a revolving cirlce and no one can actually say where it starts or ends.

kms said

at 1:03 am on Sep 8, 2010

Purina (horse chow) used to have that as their logo - I THINK - "Success is a journey, not a destination."

Aardvark Marker said

at 5:36 pm on Oct 23, 2010

hahaha

You don't have permission to comment on this page.