*WARNING: High potential cheese factor ahead.  This post came out of nowhere…. I had no intention of typing all this out when I first sat down, and am a little surprised at what I’ve written..

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I came across this post tonight, quite randomly, and thought it was worth mentioning.   It might sound cheesy, silly, or new-agey, and I’m sure some of you (you know who you are!) are rolling your eyes 😉
But nonetheless, I think that many do forget to “stop and smell the roses” so to speak.  We become too obssessed with work (so easy to do here in Japan), desperate to have as much money as possible, always wanting that latest in gadgets/clothes, and feel that we’re “missing out on life” if we’re not keeping up with everyone else, or fulfilling what OTHERS expect of us.  In other words, we’re definitely a culture of “wanting”, of gratification, and tend to judge our own self-worth by the opinions of others – but once we do what others think we should do or get what we think we want, are we really happy?

Are we that badly off just because we haven’t as much money as we want, just because we haven’t traveled the whole world yet, just because we don’t have that Louis-Vuitton handbag?  I don’t think so.  Happiness is what you make of it, is ready to be had at any time, if you’re just willing to look.  Happiness is the noise of snow crunching under your feet in the crisp winter air, with no other sounds around you.  Happiness is when that baby in the carriage on the train makes that weird scrunched up face when they see you.  Happiness is watching that goofy little dog running around, trying to find the perfect spot to “do its business” while its owner scrambles to keep up (that’s more a chuckle-worthy moment, but it does make ya grin 🙂 .  Happiness is when you help someone pick up the coins they’ve accidentally dropped on the ground, and hearing them say “thank you” in surprise as you hand it back to them.

Happiness is not trying to match the expectations of everyone else – you try to do that, and you’ll just go nuts.

You can find moments of happiness everywhere, if you’re just willing to look.  And I’m not dinging the ambitious among us, I’m not in any way judging those who strive and work their butts off so that they can earn more for that trip to Fiji, or have the goal of being the CEO of a company, or anything along those lines.   If they reach their goal and are able to look back on the journey without regrets, but rather with satisfaction and honest pride in their accomplishments, then they’re doing it right.  In fact, they’re probably already looking forward towards their next journey, whatever and wherever that may be 🙂

The flip side to this point of view (and something that I especially need to be careful of), is getting too complacent, too laid back.  Sure, enjoying the journey is the most important part, but there DOES need to be a goal to work towards, and too often my appoach is to enjoy the journey without focusing on any particular endpoint.  In other words – I need to fight my own laziness. 😐

To that end, I’ll list my own little goals for this year – maybe by doing this, I’ll be more motivated to strive for them!

• Get at least 1 certification in IT
• Get better at running
• Learn to drive!
• Move to my own place (for real this time 😉
• Save

There are plenty of other subgoals, personality and mentally related, but the above are the more tangible goals and I think working on those will help towards the subgoals.

We may take different journeys, but I think in the end we’re all heading towards similar goals.  I’ll see you all when you get there 🙂