“It’s not the pursuit of happiness but the happiness of the pursuit.”- Jerzy Gregorek Finding joy before we arriveLately, Lindsay and I have been making plenty of decisions for our new apartment. From doors and flooring to paint and delivery dates, there always seems to be something else to figure out. It is easy to think: once everything is finished and we have moved in, we can finally enjoy it. This quote challenged that thought. Preparing the apartment is already part of our life together. We are deciding how we want to live and learning things we probably would never have thought about otherwise. A door used to be just a door. Now it involves questions about frames, plastering and who needs to do what first. I cannot say I enjoy every part of it. Sometimes I would happily skip the decisions and coordination and go straight to being settled in our home. Understanding the message of this quote does not make that feeling disappear. But I can still appreciate a decision we have made together, the relief of solving a problem, or the satisfaction of finally understanding something that seemed confusing. Perhaps that is what the happiness of the pursuit means to me: noticing those moments while still looking forward to the result. Moving in will be worth celebrating. In the meantime, I do not want to treat the weeks before it as time simply waiting to be over. #Happiness #Perspective #Waiting |
Week 44. The Happiness of the Pursuit
“It’s not the pursuit of happiness but the happiness of the pursuit.”- Jerzy Gregorek Finding joy before we arriveLately, Lindsay and I have been making plenty of decisions for our new apartment. From doors and flooring to paint and delivery dates, there always seems to be something else to figure out. It is easy to think: once everything is finished and we have moved in, we can finally enjoy it. This quote challenged that thought. Preparing the apartment is already part of our life together. We are deciding how we want to live and learning things we probably would never have thought about otherwise. A door used to be just a door. Now it involves questions about frames, plastering and who needs to do what first. I cannot say I enjoy every part of it. Sometimes I would happily skip the decisions and coordination and go straight to being settled in our home. Understanding the message of this quote does not make that feeling disappear. But I can still appreciate a decision we have made together, the relief of solving a problem, or the satisfaction of finally understanding something that seemed confusing. Perhaps that is what the happiness of the pursuit means to me: noticing those moments while still looking forward to the result. Moving in will be worth celebrating. In the meantime, I do not want to treat the weeks before it as time simply waiting to be over. #Happiness #Perspective #Waiting |