On being accomplished

When a dear friend passed down her copy of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice to me a couple of months ago, I was delighted to give the volume a new home on my bookshelf (and to put re-reading the book on my new things and old things list). I was recently reminded of a passage in the story where Jane Austen reflects on the requirements placed on an accomplished woman:

“Oh! certainly,” [exclaimed Miss Bingley], “no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”

“All this she must possess,” added Darcy, “and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”

“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.” [Elizabeth Bennett protested.] “I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, such taste, such application, and elegance, as you describe, united.”

Jane Austen, The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, p. 70 (Anchor Books, 2007)

What’s your take on being accomplished? When it comes to me, after thinking about the subject on and off for a very long time, I’ve finally established that there’s no way for anyone to ever become accomplished fully. Accomplishment is an ideal – a useful reference. The people that I consider coming closest to accomplishment are those that are constantly working on becoming better versions of themselves – coming into their own, discovering their true vocation and becoming better and better and what they love to do.

However, one can live a happy life even with little accomplishments. I, for instance, consider myself an accomplished woman today: I finished all of my Christmas shopping (down to the ribbons and wrapping paper, peeps) and completed crafting all of the handmade Christmas cards that I decided to bestow upon my lucky friends this year as an alternative for the generic ones  that never quite meet my criteria for stylish simplicity. I’m rewarding myself with a cup of creamy hot chocolate. Because this I know about accomplishment: it’s of no use whatsoever if they remain unappreciated.

Have you got anything you’d like to pat yourself on the back for today? Boast about it here!