If at first you don’t succeed, well you must just be like the rest of us mere mortals! But what do we mean by succeed and against what are we judging ourselves and that level of success?
Having had one of those not so great days recently, I traipsed homeward feeling like I had done ten rounds with Iron Mike Tyson. Ok, I still had both ears intact, but I was feeling a little sorry for myself, pathetic I know but very male. In our house there is having a cold, flu or pneumonia and then there is Man Flu it is, I am informed by my boss, the same as a sniffle of a cold, but the patient acts as though he has double pneumonia! Anyway, sat as I was at an airport, I was informed that the flight would be late, but as this was an SA Express flight I would have also had a coronary if it had been on time! The phone suddenly rang and a great guy we wanted to join the organisation enthusiastically accepted the position, the patient cheered up a little! Then a message from Cape Town, via sms, a particular deal had been concluded, the mood lifted slightly again. It was time to call home, after all what time would SA Express get its passengers home? Firstly, Oz (the boss) was happy, the dogs were washed and had ceased smelling, Maddy was jubilant with the braces off her teeth and was looking stunning. Jake had a broken finger from rugby but the game was a success. Connor was happy about his archery practice and Liam had enjoyed a good hockey session.
So who was I to worry? At the end of the day our happiness is dependent on the ones we love, not the stock market, not our goals, not even I’m afraid our work colleagues and or clients, sorry clients but it is family not you who are King! The plane eventually landed, albeit delivering me to a typical wet and windy Cape evening, rather than the blazing sun I had left behind in PE “The Friendly City”. That night I enjoyed a glass of Cape Grape Juice from one of its stunning eight Constantia Farms, I ate a great meal and was teased by four kids for being an old grump. By the time I fell asleep that night I was a lot happier, but then that is another story! Reality had returned and looking around at the brood of two adults, four kids, two dogs and a rather fat cat it appeared that we had all succeeded rather well that day.
You know what? We probably would the day after that as long as we embraced what true success really is a happy family