The Road to Happiness

 

I missed the exit.

In fact, I’ve pretty much been driving past it my whole life.

Sure, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen it in small glimpses, but the moments are often fleeting. The happiness I find most satisfying is when it comes from simple things, like an awesome cotton candy sunset when I’m on one of my runs through the woods. I see it in the trees, the way the wind rustles the branches…I hear it in the sounds of thousands of leaves tickled by the breeze, the sudden realization that life is all around me and I am a part of something so much bigger than myself.  

And still I am looking for the off ramp…trying to find my “happy place”.  I think I am closer than I’ve ever been before.  I can see it just up the road. I know what I have to do to get there.  No GPS required.

The Road to Happiness should be the most epic of all road trips. Not a straight shot up a one way street. What’s the fun in that? What do you learn from life when you are stuck in cruise, staring out the window, but never really seeing the road?  I guess that’s how I lived my life in the past. I didn’t even know I was doing it. It just sort of happened that way. At one point, I even stopped looking out the window all together, accepting exactly what was in front of me…as if I didn’t deserve better.

Not anymore.

It's time to caddy whip this ride.

Now I’m driving a different path. I’m sure I will hit a few potholes along the way. I might even pick up a hitchhiker or two. But guess what? I’m the driver… I pick the music…I pick the route…I pick the destination.

Time to buckle up, floor it, and enjoy the fuck out of this ride!