Following a thread from my last post – you go where you look – another metaphor seems apropos.
When I was younger I used to climb things, sometimes very large things (aka Mountains!) Of course the summit was the goal, the thing that drove every thought and action for sometimes months in advance of even leaving on a trip. It was the compelling reason “why.”
And every time, without exception, it was the trip itself that created the memories. Whether successful or not, the journey was what mattered.
Too frequently we become attached to the destination (the summit) and miss out on the journey itself. Sometimes the attachment sows the seeds of failure; we find the “summit” too far away and too hard to attain, and so we turn away, perceiving the effort to be wasted, our sense of ourselves tainted by the lack of achievement.
Setting goals, having a destination or achievement in mind is fine, even necessary – it can be the crux of our choices. Will what I want to say or do right now help me get what I want? But once having set this we must focus on the journey itself, otherwise the summit will be in jeopardy.
Do not attach to the destination but connect with the journey. That is where you will find your happiness – along the way.
Stephen Marks LPC, CPCS 
“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
This is a quote from one of my favorite books that this post brought to mind. The series is called the Stormlight Archive, and it’s only a few steps down in terms of majesty and linguistic aptness from the Kingkiller Chronicles. It’s one of those series that I can never decide between taking three days and three months to read.
The third book, Oathbringer, especially resonated with me (except the last time I remember seeing it was when I lent it to an Important Person in late 2017, and now I have no idea where it is). I also like this quote from it… “You want to change the world, Shallan. That’s well and good. But be careful. The world predates you. She has seniority.”
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