I wasn't sure where to put this thread so apologies if it's off topic.
Climbing is often a goal oriented sport, so I'm sure some people here have thought about what I'm going to ask. I recently achieved a personal goal in a non-mountain related sport which I'd worked on for more than five years, and on which I'd spent many thousands of dollars for training and gear, and thousands of hours of practice, and which is important to me on a practical level because it means I'll be able to participate at that level with others who have also achieved the goal. Now that I've done it, however, I've been thinking about all the time, effort, and psychological energy I put into it, and have been trying to compare it to the effort and energy I put into some other goals I've achieved (or, in some cases, failed to achieve) in other sports and in life in general. I've also been thinking about what makes certain personal goals and achievements really important and meaningful to me, and others not so important (even if they may seem important in the "real world", like getting a promotion or making your first $10^N). Also, how I can explain to people who don't participate in an activity why certain goals are so meaningful and hard.
So my question is, when you achieve a big personal goal, do you think about how it compared to other big personal goals you've achieved in your life? How do you explain to others (or even to yourself) why certain goals are really important and why it is such a big deal to you when you achieve them?