Success

Yesterday, one of our teachers asked us what we think success means. Some said power,some said satisfaction, and one person said happiness. Happiness, I believe, is the building block of success. Sure, some successful people may not be happy with what they do, but I wouldn't call what they do "living". They may look successful from the outside, but I assure you they surely don't feel that way on the inside.

A week ago, we had a concert at our school. Performers from the Ankara State Opera and Ballet visited us and performed. I don't know if its because they were performing to families and children, or that they weren't singing the libretto of an opera to 500 people in Italian, they were very happy and were clearly enjoying what they were doing. Their enthusiasm also made the concert more enjoyable for everyone. I believe that the people who were successful in that auditorium last Friday were the performers, because I believe that if you don't enjoy what you're doing, you cannot succeed in it; and if, somehow, you manage to, it will be terribly hard...

Until IB, we were forced to take all of the courses. We had to take chemistry, biology, and Turkish literature among many other subjects. I detested studying biology: it seemed far too boring to me, and I didn't see the meaning behind memorizing names and definitions and passing a test; but I still did it, and got very high grades in biology. You may  say that I was "successful" in biology in the past two years, but if you ask me, I'd trade the many hours of biology classes to physics or economics everyday. Even in the IB, the biology students get very high grades in their tests. I'm only taking physics, and I can honestly say that it is NOT an easy course. Anyway, I know that if I switch to biology, I will definitely get higher grades, but I prefer the hard work and challenge of physics, because enjoying what I do is far more important than the grades I get.

In life after college, this situation comes up again; only, grades are then your income, and your classes is your job. After going to that concert and seeing how much those people enjoyed themselves when they were on stage, I realized that I wouldn't be happy at all if I went and studied mechanical engineering and stopped working with music. Right then, I knew that in the race between mechanical or electrical engineering and music in my head, music just took the lead. Even though I know that I may not earn as much as an electrical engineer, I know that I will be much, much happier if I studied music; and with happiness, comes success.