Our definition of
success has become distorted. Being successful means having a lot of money.
As Dr. Rosenfeld was quick to point out, ³How would you classify Mother
Teresa? Was she a success?² Today, success seems to be measured by your
contribution to your bank account and not to the world.
Dr. Rosenfeld asked TeenSpeakıs staff what they valued most in
life. Clearly, the unanimous answer was to live a happy life. Did that
require you to have a job that pays millions of dollars? Probably not.
Family and good friends, time for yourself seem to add up to a valuable
existence. And, although everyone likes to be good at something, you donıt
have to be the best.
Stress is a part of everyoneıs life. It can be productive, and make you
strive to achieve, or it can also be destructive and overwhelm you. Nonetheless,
it is something that people will have to deal with for the rest of their
lives. Dr. Rosenfeld believes that we need to keep what we value most
in life in perspective, and in so doing, we can reduce the amount of stress
we place on ourselves. If parents are reading this, itıs okay to design
a schedule for your child with some free space. Children need room to
spend time with their parents, make mistakes, and learn that itıs okay
to say, ³No, I donıt think I can handle another activity², so their goals
in life, defining whatıs really important, will become much clearer.
