I feel like we’ve begun to confuse ease and comfort with happiness and fulfillment. My own life proving to be a fine example of this. I live in a beautiful place and have built a successful career. Life, for the most part, is pretty easy and quite comfortable. But over the last year I’ve grown increasingly unhappy. Which is confusing because I don’t want for much more in life. So why on earth am I unhappy? I decided to turn my life upside down in search of that elusive happiness. In a few days our house will be sold and we’ll officially be living on the road. Everything that is currently easy about our life getting tossed out the window. To my surprise, the simple decision to take on a new challenge in life has made me feel happier than I’ve felt in a long time. Leading me to understand that happy isn’t easy and easy doesn’t make you happy. Challenging ourselves, scaring ourselves, facing hardship, building resilience and learning to adapt can bring great satisfaction if we allow ourselves to be okay with a little discomfort.
Uncertainty is okay.
Discomfort is okay.
Being scared is okay.
I think happiness lies beneath all these things that we try so hard to avoid. Because when we face them and come out the other side unscathed we see that we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. And with that our world becomes so much bigger than we ever dreamed it could be.
Am I a little freaked out to be without a house, without an address, without an answer to the question “where do you live?” Yes. Am I fighting the evil little societal-trained voice in my head that’s saying “are you nuts? you can’t do that.” Yes. But I’m not about to let that flutter of hesitation stop be from going after something I’ve wanted to try for so many years. I’m not going to let fear stop me from pursuing meaning and fulfillment in my life.
So the next time you’re inclined to go the easy route, pause and ask yourself if that will make you happy or just comfortable. Then challenge yourself to pursue what will make you happy instead of what’s easy.
