Enjoy now.

I concluded my previous entry by stating that I have begun to rethink tasks and ambitions as challenges.  I want to expand on how attitude has a lot to do with happiness through a recent travel epiphany.

Planning on moving to Australia in July and working there for a year was a long standing goal.  I had conceived it while in Nepal upon hearing about other people's experiences.  When I came home I quickly grew bored of Toronto and wanted to make money elsewhere so I could travel more.  Honest backpacker jobs, a higher minimum wage, ideal climate and a change of scenery was all very lucrative!

For a while it was frustrating working in order to save for my next adventure.  I felt a lot like this:

I daydreamed a lot about Australia but I also began to wonder how much I fell into the arrival fallacy.  It is the belief that you will be happy when you've arrived at a certain destination.  It is a fallacy because arriving rarely makes you feel as happy as anticipating your arrival.  Happiness is already incorporated into the expectation of arriving, so when you do arrive the pleasure is rarely unadulterated.  Also, arriving often brings more work and responsibilities ~ reaching one goal usually reveals another.

Goals are important but you should ask yourself consecutively "and then what?"  The old adage of "Life is a journey, not a destination" sums up the attainment of happiness.  So enjoy now.

The arrival fallacy doesn't mean that pursuing goals isn't a route to happiness.  The challenge is to be present-minded.  Take pleasure in your growth, in the gradual progress made towards a goal, in the present.  If you can do that, you won't need to count on the happiness that is or isn't waiting for you in the future.

I no longer feel frustrated with where I am now.  Where I am now is where I need to be because that is where I am improving myself through challenges that I do not dread.  I wanted to be in Australia (even if just to be away from the cold!) but suddenly it seemed too comfortable and not enough satisfying.  I couldn't believe it myself ~ it was an epiphany!

I began to recall dormant thoughts about teaching English in foreign countries.  Korea!  Now that's a challenge!  I don't know much about Korea and I find the cuisine just okay; I can't expect myself to feel happy about someplace I can't fathom clearly.  Rather than telling myself I don't have any interest in the unknown, I should try and make it interesting ~ take it as an opportunity to learn something.  I am ready for the journey and the journey after that and the journey after that.

**the graphics came from Luke Pearson's "Hilda and the Troll" (it's adorable and you should check it out) and anything smart sounding came from Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project"