An expensive car, luxury brand clothing, the kind of bank balance that means if you’re needing a break, then why not make it the Seychelles? For many people these are the obvious signs of success. They give others an easy means of viewing and rating their standing. Success and status walk hand-in-hand, right?
Not so much these days, actually. You only have to read about Minecraft developer Markus Persson, whose Twitter account last year exposed his loneliness and inability to enjoy life, despite becoming one the world’s newest billionaires in 2015 following the sale of his games business to Microsoft. “The problem with getting everything is that you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance,” he tweeted from a party in Ibiza where he said that despite the fact he was able do whatever he wanted, he had “never felt more isolated”.
While an extra billion dollars or so might help when it comes to financial security, success can be seen in many other terms: good supportive relationships, interesting work, time to yourself, family ties, a future you can believe in. If you’re constantly doubting yourself, or feeling anxious about what lies ahead, then success is also learning to live with life’s ambiguities, not clinging to a single idea of a career path or ongoing increases in earnings.
Rachel Kelly, who suffered two breakdowns and now writes and lectures on the subject of wellbeing, says: “We need to deconstruct the idea that you are only a success if you live a ‘perfect’ life free of challenges, pain or setbacks.” She believes that learning to cope with failure was, in fact, a turning point in her own road back to a fulfilling life.
Doctor, philosopher and theologian Albert Schweitzer, who won the Nobel Prize for his contribution to healthcare in Africa, was one of those people who didn’t take much in the way of money for what he did in life, but contributed enormous amounts to the wellbeing of others. “Success,” he said, “is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
This sounds like a great inspiration for anyone, not just the outwardly “successful”, and it echoes the sentiment of Johnnie Walker. Backed by its global ambassadors including Jenson Button and Jude Law, Johnnie Walker is on a mission to prove that it is the pursuit of joy, rather than money or status, which takes you further.
Louise Chunn is the founder of welldoing.org, which matches you with the therapist most suited to your needs
Joy will take you further
Inspired by a specially commissioned paper by psychologist and happiness expert Dr Matt Killingsworth, Johnnie Walker, along with global ambassadors including actor Jude Law and Jenson Button, is embracing the idea that it is the pursuit of joy, rather than money or status alone, that will take you further.
Discover more about Johnnie Walker and how embracing joy will take you further at johnniewalker.com or head to Johnnie Walker on Facebook
