A few weeks ago, I came across an article on Medium titled “The ‘B+’ Lifestyle: How to Live a Pretty Damn Good Life” and I was intrigued. As someone who always aims for the best, I thought, “What’s interesting about a B+ lifestyle that it’s worth an article to talk about it? Why would someone settle for B+ anyway? Shouldn’t people aim for the moon so if they fail they still can fall among the stars?”

So I read the article, and it was like a wake up call.

My aspiration in life is to have the A+ life: own a mega-business, being on Forbes 30 Under 30, have the bikini body, start my day with meditation from 5 am, healthy food on the table, somewhat famous with millions of followers, and all the things that’s unattainable.

You probably think my goals are so materialistic. Well, I spend most of my day on social media or reading self-improvement articles. All those things I see online made me things that the term ‘successful’ equals wealth and approval of others. So yes, I’m materialistic because that’s what I thought as being successful and I want to be successful.

After reading the article, I spent some time evaluating my life. I’m definitely not living the A+ life, and to say I’m a B+ is unfair too because I don’t have an escape from 9-to-5 job yet, I don’t have financial freedom or passive income or anything better than most people.

I still live paycheck to paycheck, but I don’t have debts or loans. I still work in the office, doing things I’m not 100% sure it is for me, but it’s aligned with my skills and sometimes enjoyable. I still live in a rented apartment, but it’s spacious enough for Japan standard. I still need to eat instant noodles or junk food sometimes because they’re affordable. I still have less than 1000 followers on Instagram, but they’re all nice people who don’t write hate comments. I’m still not rich, but I can save up some money to travel when I want to.

iceland blue lagoon
My definition of bikini body is a body wearing a bikini.
Taken in Blue Lagoon, Iceland, in January. It was freezing above the water.

Basically saying, I don’t have any big troubles. My life is very normal, standard, maybe even a little better than some people. I’ll say it’s worth a B- but I’m always harsh on myself so I’ll give it a C+ for now. It’s probably not the life I’d say ‘successful’ to the society standard, but I actually started to think that I’m pretty successful in life according to my standard.

Anyway, I just want to say that I’m happy I came across that article. I think I can stop feeling like a failure for a while.

xoxo_anastasia