Yeah, interesting question. To me it all depends on how you define success. I don’t really view success as an absolute concept, like if you said that success is being financially stable, or something like that. I think everyone defines their own success, and people will define their own personal success as things that would be fulfilling to them.
I guess if I were in the situation where an outside observer would consider me successful, but I don’t feel successful in terms of my own personal goals for myself and my life, hopefully that’d be a wake up call to make a life change. I say hopefully because obviously such things are easier said than done. It could be easier to stick in a safe career path that’s bringing in enough money to keep me comfortable than to take the risk with changing. But I hope I’ll always be able to put fulfillment first.
I can see this potentially happening to me a lot down the road; I’m nearly done with my degree and I chose my major not on passion but on safety, if I’m being honest with myself. I need job security because I need health insurance because my body has been cruel to me. Computer science isn’t my life passion, but it will certainly make me employable. There are a lot of other things I am interested in doing with my life, and I hope I’ll have the courage to do them when the time comes.