‘And isn’t that dancing?’

I loved your beautiful and thoughtful definitions of success.

What does success look like for you?

I posed this question to My Sweet Dumb Brain readers earlier this month. It’s a big topic to consider—one with no right or wrong answer—and I got a lot of deep and thoughtful replies in return.

Rachel, who is 31, landed her “dream job” two years ago, but has since realized how demanding it is. The job is “too much work, too much stress, too much responsibility,” she said, adding that “that’s scary to admit.”

“All my life I’ve been doing that’s expected of me,” Rachel continued. “Always moving upwards in this ‘construct’ elevator. But where is it leading?”

Recently, Rachel met someone she wants to start a family with. She wants to move closer to her family. She wants to find a job with less stress, more room for flexibility, and less guilt. She wants to pursue a PhD “just for the fun of it.” Admitting these things is scary; she worries about what other people will think, and whether it proves that she “was not able to do it all.”

“What I’m slowly realizing is that I might not be moving upwards, but taking a lateral step,” Rachel said. “And isn’t that dancing?”