Redefining "Winning"

(air hissing) (keystroke clicking) (gentle music) Headspace Studios. (gentle music) (quirky music) Hey, friends! It's Rosie. Welcome back to Radio Headspace. (quirky music) You know, I used to think winning meant getting out, out of East LA, out of the neighborhood where sirens were a constant soundtrack and my dreams felt a world away. For me, survival itself was a win. I remember the day I moved into my first real apartment. I was in my early twenties, barely, but it felt like I'd crossed some invisible finish line. The place wasn't fancy. I had a roommate. The furniture was donated or thrifted, but it was mine. I remember standing in this tiny kitchen peeling a sticker off of a new pan I got from Target thinking, "This is it. "This is what success feels like." And in that moment, it was. (gentle music) (birds chirping) But what no one tells you about making it is that the finish line or lines, well, they keep moving. What once felt like winning, eventually becomes normal. and your brain quietly whispers, "Now what?" And while "Now what?" is great for ambition, we can start to forget how far we've come. Mindfulness helps us stay in the present moment and appreciate what's here now. (gentle music) So back to the apartment. That victory of having my own place with the door I could lock became the new standard, and I got stuck because I kept chasing new markers of success: career milestones, validation, goals checked off a list without stopping to ask what winning actually meant to me. And eventually I realized it meant purpose. It meant healing. It meant creating from love instead of fear. The idea of success, much like us, isn't linear. It evolves and changes as we do. Psychologist Martin Seligman, who founded the field of positive psychology, once said that a meaningful life is built not on constant achievement but on engagement. It's built on those moments when we're deeply absorbed, connected, and contributing, and, for me, that doesn't come with getting a book deal, although that is nice. It's writing the book, right? Like that's the whole reason I got into this because, I can tell you, there's easier ways to make money. (water splashing) (gentle music) We have this tendency to confuse achievement and fulfillment. One is external. The other is internal. And while both are important, the pursuit of fulfillment is a more sustainable path. And fulfillment is different for everyone. For some people, it's kids. For others, it's creative projects. For others, it's getting lost in a book or a series. But what's important is that it's right here and right now. That's victory. That's success. When I look back at that little apartment, it was still a win. So was surviving the chaos that came before it. The real victory was internal, learning that success isn't a destination; it's a direction. (gentle music) (birds chirping) Every version of winning along the way: leaving, surviving, growing; it...