Unremarkable and (mostly) okay with it

I miss Caribou Coffee. As I sit here sadly sipping my Starbucks coffee, I mourn the long distance relationship I have with the deliciousness of Caribou. Starbucks just doesn’t taste as good to me. 

 

But that’s beside the point of this column. 

 

I have been thinking recently about success. I got a LinkedIn notification that one of my college classmates was just recognized as one of Editor & Publisher (E&P) Magazine 2026 Tomorrow’s News Trailblazers. While I was extremely happy for her, I then scrolled further to witness more successes of other classmates and acquaintances. 

 

While I understand that social media, even LinkedIn, is curated to show just the good or great parts of life, I still find myself comparing. These people are making something with their lives and being celebrated because of it. Even in the newspaper, we celebrate the unique and hardworking individuals who have found success. But what about the common man? The people who work hard and don’t receive any special attention?

 

I guess it just felt easier to find extraordinary success in college, as I was always working to achieve something that would make me proud. Write a thesis to get an honors medal. Join the school’s newspaper and work my way up to Managing Editor. Do homework to get an A. Spend four years working to get a degree. 

 

And now? Having a full time job doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not working towards anything, but I’m not really working towards anything. Right now, there’s no room for me to grow or get promoted, and I’ve learned all the parts of the job I need to do. So while I work on getting better at the things I do, the tasks seem to become monotonous. There’s no easy goalpost I can use to show I’ve achieved tangible success anymore. At least not like my peers. 

 

While I might not be as successful as others, I try to remind myself that we all take a different path in life. I might not have crazy success in work I can be proud of, but my volleyball team won our competitive league. I earned a raise at the magazine (yay no longer working for less than minimum wage!). I finished my bookclub book in only a few days. I have been consistently going outside and going to the gym. 

 

So while I might not be publicly recognized for an award, or featured in the newspaper for my hard work, there are successes in life I can be proud of. 

 

And sometimes I ponder whether I want to work myself to death in order to gain those loud successes like I did in college anyway. While I would love to have something to offer to families and friends to say, “Look! I did this cool thing and I think you could be proud of me,” it sometimes seems like it would be better to say “eff it” to success and overwork and just go out and explore the world to find joy and experience life before I can’t anymore. 

 

My grandpa will probably read this and think my ramblings are underlying thoughts of me wanting validation, a reflection on my self esteem. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. 

 

Being far from my family and friends, it’s easy to find myself more independent, trying to celebrate the little things with myself since I can’t with the ones I love. But I’m growing, and I’m learning, and I’m trying to celebrate the successes that aren’t extraordinary. Because what is life without a little whimsy?

 

My Determination: “I’m just so damn tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie ourselves in knots so that people will like us.” — Gloria, “Barbie”