Thanks for the great comment. I agree, success is very personal and involves happiness. One definition that I like of it paints success as having a goal and working toward it.

I can’t imagine having the type of job that it sounds like you had. But it sounds like you were fortunate enough to make a high wage in exchange for your time and effort and wise enough not to mismanage your money and so now you are in a position to choose to exchange your time for a smaller wage and less stress.

I work six days a week and often part-time two nights a week, but according to your comment, I would categorize myself as lazy (I don’t consider that bad). My longest commute is fifteen minutes. My full-time job schedule is 8:15 to 4:00, which gives me plenty of family time. And the responsibilities are not stressful in any way. To be honest, I’m pretty happy with the job(s) that I have.

I, personally, want to get ahead a little more than I am and wouldn’t mind doing something that was a little more stimulating. My children are still young, though, so I have to base a lot of my decisions on giving them stability (at least I think I do).

This piece is trying to explore the divide that some people straddle between doing what they really love to do and either just getting by, or failing to make it (as a business, as an artist, etc), and the alternative that is often portrayed as the only one: working a job one doesn’t like to make the money to pay the bills.