18
Pursue Your Happiness

WE ALL HAVE a spot in life—a place in the world where we feel happier and more energized. When you’re at your spot, you know it because it’s where you feel at your very best just for the mere fact of being there. That was the case when I first stepped foot in San Diego at the age of twenty-one. The weather was perfect, the beaches were beautiful, and the vibe was one I can only describe as “surfer casual”—shorts and flip-flops were permanently in fashion and considered acceptable attire everywhere I went. As an added bonus, snow skiing was just two hours away. You could literally be on the slopes and then back in the waves on the same day! I kept thinking to myself, I hope I live here one day.

Sure enough, I came out to San Diego to pursue my happiness. It was there that I finished my formal education, and during that time I got married, started my career, and spent unforgettable times with friends. Both my wife and I felt like we had found our spot. But only after we moved away did this realization became clearer. While moving allowed us to focus on our professional goals and get back on our feet financially, we continually found ourselves yearning to be back in California.

Late one September evening after almost eight years of being away, we came to the conclusion that the time had come to reclaim our spot in San Diego. We missed being there and knew it was the place we wanted to raise our kids. However, we had some very real concerns. Would we be able to afford it? Would we be able to find new jobs? Would we still like it as much as we did before? The only thing we were certain of was that we definitely wanted to be there and if we stayed away any longer, we might regret it for the rest of our lives. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided to put our house on the market the next morning for the sake of pursuing our happiness.

Little did we know what would occur the following day: September 11, 2001. Suddenly selling a house and making a major life change seemed like a bad idea. But as disillusionment set in, it also helped clarify what we needed to do. If there was ever a time to pursue our happiness, that time was now when it felt like the world was falling apart all around us. We elected to stick with our plan and put up the For Sale sign. To our surprise, our house sold in only one week. Sadly, the people who bought it had just lost a family member in the World Trade Center tragedy. Just one month later we were back in San Diego, a spot that we have no intention of leaving any time soon.

When you pursue your happiness, you are making a statement that you are committed to living a life where you feel energized and inspired. This doesn’t mean you have to move to a new city or make an abrupt change in your life but simply that you plan to follow your heart in the name of being happy. Whether it’s pursuing a job at a company where you’d love to work, pursuing a relationship that you really want to develop, or pursuing a dream that you’ve put on hold, the quest to be happy is a cause worth fighting for. Pursue your happiness and see how the world looks brighter.

Pursue your happiness
and see how the
world looks brighter.

∼ How will you pursue your happiness over the next thirty days?

∼ What challenges stand in the way, and how will you overcome them?