Day 11- Here's My Definition of Success, What's Yours?

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Welcome to DAY ELEVEN of our new 30-day COMMUNITY PROJECT where we make something with our hands every day in order to improve our mental health. We all realize that creativity heals...it's time to put that knowledge into action.

I'm going to publish an episode for you to follow along with several days of each week (I'll take breaks on Fridays and weekends in order to give you time to catch up as needed). These episodes will exist here, marked with the days numbered, in order for you to follow along at any speed that you like. Miss a day? Doesn't matter. Just pick up right where you left off and keep making things. These episodes will give us all some accountability, but if you need more, pair up with a partner. It really does help!

Join our creative community by making something today, whether it's for five minutes or several hours—your brain will thank you. Let's do this thing together and turn all of this sh*t into something beautiful!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:01):
your new life is going to cost you your old one.
It's going to cost you yourcomfort zone and your sense of
direction.
It's going to cost yourelationships and friends.
It's going to cost you beingliked and understood, and it
doesn't matter, because thepeople who are meant for you are

(00:22):
going to meet you.
On the other side, you aregoing to build a new comfort
zone around the things thatactually move you forward.
Instead of being liked, you aregoing to be loved.
Instead of being understood,you are going to be seen.
All you're going to lose iswhat was built for a person that

(00:46):
you no longer are.
Let it go by Brianna Wiest.
Before I talk about what I didfor today's project, I would
like to say that normally, everysingle day, an activity that I
would be doing with my handswould be taking care of my
monarchs, my caterpillars, mybutterflies you name it, all of

(01:07):
it and this year, sadly, I havenot raised one monarch for the
first time in six years.
It's one of my favorite thingsto do every single summer,
something I look forward to.
It's a part of my life.
I have had zero caterpillarwork to be done this entire

(01:27):
summer.
It's very sad, but I also feellike maybe it happened in order
to push me into this project andto do a little bit of creative
cross-training that I wastalking about and to push me
towards doing these episodes,which have been incredibly,
incredibly helpful in my lifeand, hopefully, some of yours.

(01:50):
But the reason that I haven'traised a caterpillar or a
butterfly this entire summer isthat we went on vacation pretty
early and we were gone most ofJune in Europe, so I decided to
get no milkweed and I decided tonot even start planting it or
anything, because I just didn'tknow what was going to be going

(02:12):
on.
And when I returned, I foundout that there was a huge
milkweed shortage all overCalifornia.
I don't know if it's happeningin other areas, but in Southern
California at least there's none.
I tried to order it online.
I got out some seeds that I had.
I found out that the seedswould take so long that I would

(02:33):
miss the entire cycle, so I gavethat up.
It's been a sad, sad thing for2025, I can tell you that.
But at the same time, I'mthankful because I have a
feeling that this little podcastright here and this little
project that I've been doing ispart of the reason.

(02:56):
So, however sad it may be, somedefinite positive things have
come out of it.
Positive things have come outof it.
So on to today's project.
I decided to write again, andmy writing prompt for the day
was my definition of truesuccess is and boy did I have a

(03:30):
lot to say.
I mean, I kept writing andwriting.
It was just going on and on andon, in a totally unexpected way
.
And guess what?
Not once did I write downanything that had to do with
material goods, money, power,status, image.
None of it, absolutely zero.
And the things that I did writedown made me feel so freaking

(03:51):
proud of myself Because I haveaccomplished so many of the
things on my list and I haveworked so freaking hard to get
there my relationship with myhusband, my relationship with my
daughter, my relationship withmyself and the knowledge that I

(04:14):
hold integrity as one of myhighest core values.
And I do not waver on that.
The fact that, no matter whatanyone has done to try and hurt
me or spread lies behind my back, that I have kept my hands
clean, that I do not hit belowthe belt, I do not retaliate, I

(04:35):
do not come up with schemes toget revenge.
I do not retaliate.
I do not come up with schemesto get revenge.
I live my life, stay true to mycore values and I remember that
my character will outweigh anylie that is ever told about me.
It might take years, but I holdto the belief that the truth
always comes to light Always,and I will never stoop to

(04:59):
anyone's level in order to geteven with them.
I will just let them keeptalking and talking until people
start to wake up and realizewhat's really going on.
Another part of my truedefinition of success spending
time alone and loving being withme, spending time with my

(05:21):
family and loving our timetogether because we've worked so
hard on so many things.
Waking up each and every dayand committing myself to growing
and being and loving the peoplearound me, finding ways that I
can contribute to theirhappiness and well-being.
Looking back at the mostdifficult and painful chapters

(05:42):
in my life and seeing the waysthat I worked my ass off to get
through it and bonded evencloser to my loved ones, knowing
in my heart that I am the onewho gets to define who I am as a
person.
Anyone else's opinion is only aprojection of their own

(06:02):
bullshit.
My true definition of successis looking in the mirror and
liking what I see Completeself-acceptance and knowledge
that this life is much biggerand more important than keeping
up with anybody or receiving anypublic accolades or praise of
any kind.
The true definition of successis watching my daughter thrive,

(06:28):
seeing her soar through thisworld in a way that I could have
only dreamed of when I was achild, not caught up in
appearances or public opinionsor image or any of that stupid
crap that weighs so many of usdown.
I have worked so hard to openthat path for her and to keep

(06:50):
her on it, and I will keepworking as the world's volume
turns itself up even louder.
Another definition of success tome living this dream of a
marriage and I'm not kiddingwith my best friend and husband,
who only enhances every portionof my life.
After years of having nothingbut toxic and sometimes even

(07:13):
abusive relationships, I woke upand I did the work.
It took years, but I did.
I reversed a lifetime ofunhealthy partnerships and I
found the kind of marriage thatmost people can barely even
believe it's real, so much thatthey're constantly trying to
find the chinks in the armor.
But keep looking, because therearen't.

(07:34):
We are equals, we have completerespect for one another, and we
are two separate and completeindividuals who come together as
a team in the good and the bad.
Saying that it's a dream of amarriage doesn't mean that we
don't argue.
It doesn't mean that we don'thave our rough times, it's just
healthy.
There's so much more that Iwrote down about my true

(07:58):
definition of success, but nowit's time for you to work on
your project.
You can obviously choosewhatever you want, but if you
want to use the writing prompt,you have it.
So until tomorrow, stay curious.