The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding Joy in the Journey

How Chasing Our Goals Brings Fulfillment Beyond Achievement

On the outside, most folks might peg me as “Mr. Sunshine.” My infectious laugh often fills rooms, and my face seems to have a permanent reservation for a grin. But beneath that exterior of a perpetually happy guy, I’ve had my dance with the moody blues of acute anxiety, tangos with the gray clouds of depression and a toxic relationship to clonazepam.

Funny thing about life, it rarely gives you a manual titled “How to Be Perpetually Happy” (believe me, I’ve checked all major bookstores), although there is one that might be the closest thing to it “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”.

In my personal quest to crack the happiness code, I’ve become a self-proclaimed philosopher and psychologist. Dive deep into the philosophy of happiness? Check. Dissect the psychology of joy? Double check. And in my earnest (and sometimes clumsy) exploration of what it means to truly be happy, I’ve stumbled upon an intriguing idea: maybe happiness isn’t a shiny medal waiting at the end of a marathon but the wind in your hair (just an analogy I’m bald as a cue ball), the stitches in your side, and the crazy, uneven terrain you navigate along the way.