I spent many hours of my younger days picking up women. I was very good at it. You learn how to be good when it comes down to sleeping in the cold or a warm bed. What was my secret to success? It was paying attention.
That is what people, men, women, other, really want. Someone to pay attention to them. It is what we spend our lives searching for, no matter if that comes from one person, many people or even a cat. But some people are never satisfied with the attention they get. They are always looking for more and when they get it, it still isn’t enough and the skip from person to person chasing that elusive high. That feeling you get from a new relationship, the sparkle of something new. I imagine it is like all of those billionaires who can’t stop pursuing money, and no matter how much they have it doesn’t fill the hole inside them.
And yet we often idolize these people that keep yearning for ever more and more and we try to emulate them. We buy books like “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, “The Secret” or “Lean In” and we work and work and work thinking that once we are successful we will be sated. But are we?
I personally find that what can make us truly happy is often what we already have. That once we stop and look at our lives we can see that we have already obtained almost everything we need. Now that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have goals, I know that Molly and I have goals, plans and dreams and we will work hard to attain them. Some will work out and some won’t but achieving those goals isn’t really what matters. It is how much pleasure we can get from making the journey together that matters.
The thing is that the chase for more can’t go on forever, and if it is only the chase that makes you happy what are you going to do when you are unable to continue chasing?
Myself, I try to strive to make the world a better place, for my kids, my step kids and my grandkids, but I know that I need to find my happiness in the now instead of waiting for a tomorrow that might never come.
Michael
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