Prompt: What success looks like on an ordinary day.
If you had asked me years ago what success looked like, I would’ve said something cinematic.
Book launches.
Airports.
Panels.
Somebody holding a microphone too close to my face while mispronouncing my name with confidence.
Very shiny. Very impressive. Very exhausting.
Now?
Success looks suspiciously ordinary. And I mean that as the highest compliment.
Success is waking up without dread.
No mental panic before my eyes even open.
No invisible pressure tapping my shoulder.
No urge to run away from my own life.
Just quiet.
I make my tea slowly.
Not the dunk-and-run version.
The proper one. Water boiling. Steam rising. Morning stretches itself awake.
The kind of tea that says, “Relax. Nothing is chasing you today.”
That’s success.
Success is doing work that feels like me.
Writing a page.
Tarot Card Reading Sessions.
Thinking. Creating. Rearranging sentences like furniture until everything sits just right.
Work that doesn’t drain me, but fills me.
Success is choosing my pace.
Not rushing because the world says hurry. Not resting because I’ve collapsed.
Just moving because it feels right.
But more than anything, and this took me years to understand, success is something much simpler.
It’s being cared for. It’s being loved.
It’s knowing some people check to see if you’ve reached home.
Who saved the last piece of dessert for you?
Who listens to your stories even when they’ve heard them before?
It’s walking into a room and feeling your shoulders drop.
No performance.
No pretending.
Just… belonging.
That kind of love is wealth no spreadsheet can measure.
Success is ending the day with energy still left. Eating something hearty. Laughing at something silly. Feeling safe inside your own life.
No fireworks. No applause.
Just a quiet thought while sipping tea:
This is nice.
I don’t want to escape this.
Turns out, success isn’t a grand moment.
It’s an ordinary day where you feel steady, useful, peaceful… and deeply loved.
And honestly?
That feels like winning.
