Happiness Is a Journey Not a Destination Essay Textsydney j harris being happy is for most of us one of the key aims in life. But where we often go wrong is in figuring out which path to take to achieve that happiness. In my last year at college, most of my peers were busy applying for full time jobs with large companies, but i knew that wasn’t what i wanted to do. i wanted to see the world, which long before gap years became so common was met with disapproval by many. But excited, and somewhat scared, i set off alone on my travels. i didn’t return for good until over seven years later, traveling around the world twice over, working as an english teacher in istanbul and barcelona, as a fruit picker on a kibbutz in israel, in a ski resort, on a campsite in france, and in a fairground in australia. I drove across the us, rode the trans siberian railway across asia, and took precarious bus journeys through the himalayas and the andes. it was a fantastically exciting time and left me with some amazing memories that will last forever. I knew that by doing this i’d probably be sacrificing any chance of reaching the upper echelons of the corporate tree, but that didn’t hold any appeal to me anyway. of more concern was the pressure i felt from family, friends, and society to settle down and find a proper job. But i’m really glad that i resisted that pressure and didn’t stop traveling and working abroad until i’d seen and experienced all that i wanted to. I felt that there was plenty of time to have a conventional job after my traveling days were over, and this has proved correct. the traveling taught me so much about myself, and life, and made me think about what i wanted from this short time on earth. I realized that i wanted to acquire experiences rather than money, and in my subsequent career that is what i have done. i’ve done a variety of jobs: i’ve been a musician, graphic designer, novelist, and journalist. Much of the time, these have been precarious freelance jobs and not well paid, but they’ve all been fantastically interesting and given me a wealth of life experience. I always wanted to have no regrets with the way i spent my life, and so far i haven’t. I know that if i’d spent my whole life trying to climb the corporate ladder i wouldn’t have been happy and would now have been lamenting what i hadn’t done in my life. I’ve always found it really important to enjoy each step of the journey that i’ve been on and not just hoping to be happier at some point later in my life. the path i’ve chosen may not be for everyone, but it is an example of the importance of choosing your own path in life, and ignoring the pressure from family, friends, and society. i’ve seen how some people are pressured into certain jobs, often because they are considered prestigious, but hate the path they have chosen. Others may be pushed to get further up the career ladder, but then find out they hate the managerial responsibility that this generally brings. People also often think that when they have more material goods or money they will be happier. But while it may be hard to be happy in the western world with no money although some people achieve it making lots of money and buying lots of things may not necessarily make you content. Buying a new car or yacht is often only a short term happiness boost and it seems that after a while, each upgrade to the car, house, or yacht gives less and less extra happiness. surveys have shown again and again that once people reach a certain wage around the average wage in western countries happiness levels do not increase much. with relationships, its also important to find the right path for ourselves, and to be as sure as we can that we have chosen the right partner. And when we’ve hopefully found them, it’s so important to enjoy each moment of that relationship, not always be looking to the future. We might think that having children will make us happy, but then when we have them we realize all the responsibilities and difficulties that brings, and may look back on our days without children with fondness. Or if we have young children we might wish they were older, but then they become teenagers! the common pattern in all this is choosing the right road for the type of person we are and finding happiness at as many places along that route as we can. So it’s important to look at all the good things in our lives and to enjoy them to the full right now. That is much more likely to bring happiness than waiting for it to appear around the corner. Best answer happiness is a journey in one sense and the ultimate destination in another. As the feeling of elation due to a situation or event or thought, idea or imagination, it is more like an emotion that instills a sense of wellness in our mind about our own self. In that day to day sense of the term, happiness if of course a journey and depends on all the posts, sightings and doings during the journey. However, it still remains to be seen if true happiness is attainable, even in the wishful degrees of illusion! notwithstanding, humanity seems to be fond of generating psychologically amplified spikes that dare to dance to the funnier tunes above the background noises of reality. Life can be made even trickier, when we buy into paradigms that we don 039 t quite understand but that 039 s only human nature, breathing in the way of the world. Com 150 Final Project Expository EssayFor now, like fools in the rainstorms of happiness, we remain blissfully soaked in the ever unfolding love. Have you arrived at your final destination? have you achieved everything you’ve hoped to achieve? traveled everywhere you’ve wanted to visit? finished everything you’ve wanted to complete? i’m willing to bet that the answer to all of these questions is no ! the truth is, no matter how much you achieve, accomplish, and acquire in life… there is always something more to be had. You’ll never reach your final destination at least not in this life! so, why does all this matter? because far too many people put off what really matters in pursuit of the things they want to achieve. They tell themselves that they’ll worry about these things once they’ve reached their destination. Advertisement however, the key to obtaining real peace in our lives is to focus on enjoying the journey, taking the time to smell the roses, and focusing on what’s really important in life. It’s good to be ambitious it’s great to want to accomplish enormous things in our life. The key, however, is simply finding the right balance, discovering a mindset that allows us to pursue big things without sacrificing the little things that make life worth living. These should be significant milestones… such as buying my dream home, finding my perfect soul mate, writing a best selling book, etc. Now, on a separate section of the sheet, write down 5 10 of the most important little things that you don’t want to forget about as you work towards these goals. Things such as: time with my daughter/son/significant other, nurturing relationships with friends, plenty of free time, etc. You will have created a visual reminder that will help you with one of life’s biggest challenges: enjoying the journey in life, instead of focusing obsessively on reaching your final destination. By hussain mohi ud din qadri happiness has remained an elusive concept over the centuries. Philosophers, religious scholars, sociologists and academicians have tried to define happiness, with some regarding it as a material thing for which material possessions have been identified as a means to achieve happiness. Others are of the view that happiness has nothing to do with material pursuits and that it is a moral or a spiritual phenomenon which one can acquire by doing the right things. Despite these definitions and explorations, the idea is as greek as it was before. However, if you want to be happy but are not sure where to start, i suggest you begin by being kinder. Acts of giving will boost your wellbeing as well as offer something good to the recipient and the world at large.
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