Most people talk about the day they retire as the beginning of happiness. The idea being that the current sacrifice they are partaking of, the things that they deprive themselves from doing, are nothing but the cost needed to pay, so that one day the happiness is somehow secured.

I'm building a stack of playing cards as I'm outlining the goal most people follow, because I hope that you, my reader, can clearly identify how silly such venture can be at times. In other words, there is so many assumptions with that particular path, that it's close to impossible that it will play out precisely as we thought it would.

Eliminating Certainty

I think that is the first and most crucial step to find peace of mind. Not because I'm subscribing to nihilism or because I'm pushing the idea of not trying, but because it's not in the effort that we find despair, but it the expectations that are not met.

I remember watching a powerful film long ago, its one of those movies that echo in your brain for days if not weeks, transcending our basic idea of just being entertained. The specific scene that resonated with me, was this particular one where the teacher, the mentor of the protagonist invites the main character to follow him on a hike. The hike was difficult, but since the teacher had promised to teach him something, to show him something at the end of the trail, the pupil walked on filled of energy and excitement.

This scene really spoke to me, because I've often found myself thinking of the results, instead of enjoying the process, enjoying my personal growth. In other words, if I had known the results would have been sub par, then I wouldn't have bothered, and I think it becomes obvious why that is a problem.

Nothing is Guaranteed

There's no guarantee I'll wake up tomorrow, but there is good evidence to the fact that if I live my best version of today, I just might. And, in that simple yet powerful wisdom I can truly rest my anxieties and let them melt away.

I keep on coming back to this mental journey, and I do so almost daily. More so because I have to remind myself that the real reward is the process, the journey and that the outcome is the one thing I can't truly rest all my happiness on, and let that uncertainty hold my personal happiness ransom.

It's never finished

Which is the how I started this crazy little mental dive of mine. No matter how old you are, or how young, while you draw breath, there is something you can and should be doing to give yourself that boost, that desire to get up in the morning and struggle a bit.

I've been saying for years now that I don't truly believe in retirement, in the idea that one day I would have lived enough and that the time to rest had finally arrived, because that sounds to me like dying or to postpone doing things I enjoy until I've paid my dues. What kind of nonsense is that? The enjoyment is in the battle uphill, the difficulty, the work we voluntarily put forth because it allows us to feel accomplishment and mock mortality to it's face.