Reflect: Success is Living Happily

My booker, Allan, and I in the Calcarries’ Philippines office.

I get it now. I get all the lessons my agency was trying to teach me years ago.

When I was starting out, I used to believe that fame equals success. That without it, my career is worthless. The bouts of sadness after castings would haunt me, making me obsess over what could have been done better. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” I would constantly hear. To not pressure yourself or to not compare are easier said than done, especially when the world you work in thinks that the barometer for success is based on the number of print ads/commercials you do, the followers you have, and the number of likes on your instagram post.

In redefining what success means to me, I realized it actually had nothing to do with that world. When I made new decisions that were more honest to the core of who I was, I felt successful. When I was willing to stretch myself and explore, I felt successful. In discovering these lessons, I was even inspired to write an article on self-love.

It’s a freeing feeling to decide the path you want to walk on instead of looking around and trying to fit your personality into a mold. I feel free in being myself instead of pressured to be what everyone wants you to be for them. When the pressure melted away, I woke up soaked in the feeling that life was everything I wanted it to be.

Just be, and everything will be alright.