What Success Really Means?

Recently, I saw a very interesting street interview. They were asking old, successful adults:
"If you could go back in time, what would you change?"

Most of them simply replied:
"I wish I had not worked so much… and I wish I had spent more time with the people I cared about."

I really felt that.

When I was young, I always thought success meant having a good job, earning money, and being able to solve everything in life. But at one point, I realized something important: success is not just about money.

I have a close relative who is a very well-known engineer in Sri Lanka. I grew up watching him and admiring him. But now, I see something different. He is not living his life happily  because of his unhappy family life. And I do not want a life like that.

This made me realize something crucial: we work to live. We work to have a good job, financial stability, and a happy life. But nowadays, many people keep chasing  and running after something without really knowing what it is. And even if they achieve success, they may still feel that something is missing.

At the end of the day, they regret their life. And when they finally realize what is missing… it may be too late to go back and change it.

I believe all of us, including me, will become busy with our careers. But let’s pause for a moment. Even now, as students, how much time do we really spend with our families? We are busy with assignments, exams, and projects. Sometimes we are sitting together… but are we truly present? Are we really listening? Really laughing together?

So what can we do? It doesn’t have to be something big. It doesn’t need long hours. We can sit with our family for a short time, share a meal, talk, laugh, and listen to each other’s stories. We can put our phones aside for a while and give our full attention to the people around us. We can ask how their day was—and truly listen to the answer.

Especially with our parents, we often assume they will always be there. But they are growing older day by day, just like us. We, miss spending time with our parents without even realizing it. We are busy building our future, while they are quietly becoming a smaller part of our present. Sometimes, all they need is a few minutes of our time, a small conversation, or even just sitting together .We can choose to be present, even if it is just for a few minutes. Because it is not the amount of time that matters most, but the quality of it. When we are truly present, even a short moment can become meaningful and memorable.

In my future, no matter how busy I become, I want to make sure I do not lose these small, meaningful moments.

Our minds can trick us into thinking that there will be a perfect time in the future to spend with our family. But the honest truth is… that perfect time may never come. So why wait? We are not too young or too old to start now.

So let’s think about it… even for a moment. What does success really mean to you?