Happiness is a journey not a destination

Happiness is a journey not a destination. You will not be happy in 10 years if you don't consciously choose to be happy everyday from today. There is no point in life when someone can say I no longer have sadness, only happiness. There’s is no point in life when someone can say “I have finally arrived at happiness”.  Just as sure as there is life and death, there will always be sadness and happiness, both are just part and parcel of what it means to be human. And just like we have to make the choice each day to live and live well we must choose to be happy everyday.

There will always be empty and sad days, there will always be anger and betrayal. There will be pain and hurt even when you have all the material luxuries, even when you are old and grey. The sources of pain are just as natural a part of life as the sources of happiness. And they are always both present at all times. Most of the time however we only focus in on the ‘negatives’, on what we do not have.

Who can even blame us for our obsession with what we lack when we live in a world that constantly reminds us of what we do not have, a job, money, a flat stomach, a wife/husband, the right skin tone, hair type or the latest gadgets?  We are constantly being told that we, just as we are, are not enough and that we can only be really happy when we finally have that house loan, bursary, slim tea and so much more. As a result, happiness becomes a destination, an abstract and elusive place we can only attain once we have ‘everything’. The tiny knowing voice inside us most times cannot compete with seductive voices and images we are bombarded with daily making it harder, if not impossible for us to choose happiness every day.

So in this post I want to challenge myself and you to choose happiness. I want us to pay close attention to that voice that tells us what will make us happier, even if it means short or prolonged, but ultimately, temporary discomfort. I want us to be people who can see beauty even on the darkest of days. I want us to choose the kind of happiness that does not depend solely on the physical or the material things. I want us to choose, every day, the kind of happiness that forces us to appreciate what we have, yet makes it impossible for us to rest easy if we are not going above and beyond to fulfill our souls’ desires. 

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