The joy isn’t always in the destination, sometimes, the joy is in the journey.
You’ve planned, taken action and now, finally, you have reached your goal or your destination so to speak, so now what? While the destination is always fun we are only there for a little while. Once we reach our destination a new journey begins.
When you do something new there is always learning involved. We learn – we grow. More often than not, we will forget about something or make a mistake. That is to be expected.
Many of my favourite memories come from the fact that someone forgot to pack something essential and we all had to get creative. Yes, there may have been frustration at first but then there was satisfaction with having found a solution, sometimes even laughter.
Every time we reach a goal, we savour it but then we must move on to the next item on our list. If we linger too long at our destination, it becomes stale, no longer as enjoyable or exciting. The key is to enjoy and move on.
Just because we move on doesn’t mean we forget either. We can visit our memories and re-experience the initial feeling. I can still relive my very first book unboxing. If I stayed there, I never would’ve written another. In fact, you wouldn’t be reading this today because I would have stagnated and not grown.
Another way to think about it is this, the entire process usually takes longer than the destination you are striving for. Many steps go into reaching your destination. Setting the goal, identifying what needs to be done, learning, figuring out what may go wrong so we can build a contingency, etc.
Even after you reach your destination there are things to do, actions to implement and decisions to be made. We don’t just stop because we are there. A vacation even needs decisions once you get there, albeit laid back ones.
An author can’t stop just because the book is published, they have to market it. They also have to produce more books to build their audience. They can enjoy the fact that they published their book for a few heartbeats but then they must get back at it.
Also, if we are too focused on the goal, we miss the life that is unfolding around us. The important things, like family and friends. They are a key part of our journey and not to be missed or discounted.
If the destination takes a while to get to why not enjoy the trip? Don’t miss all the little moments, take joy in the journey.
Free inspirational or motivational posts can be found on the inspirational page of my website.