Life is a journey which starts and end with birth and death, respectively. It is the same for everybody, irrespective of which country you are born in, or what color you are. Then why is it that some people are happy and others not? Lets explore it a bit more. Happiness normally comes from achievements. A fulfilled goal, a task accomplished, a job done well are all achievements and we get happiness out of it. More so if the task or goal was difficult or hard to complete.

If we introspect our lives, we will see that life is a journey and setting goals and milestones makes it meaningful. However, most of our time is spent preparing or working towards that goal or milestone rather than being happy when it is over. Because once a task is over, the happiness is only temporary as we have new goals and tasks to go after.

What I am proposing is that we should never sacrifice happiness for achievement. Let me explain this rather ambiguous statement. Happiness and achievement are two different things. No doubt we need goals to challenge us, to inspire us and take action, but we need not be happy only on the successful completion of the goal. Happiness is more of a choice rather than an outcome of something. When we are doing small daily tasks towards a bigger goal or a milestone, we can be happy and enjoy our best in each of these tasks, no matter how small they may be. These tasks will lead us to our goal, and if we find happiness in them, we are ultimately bound to do good in our goal too.

Now, when you work towards a goal, you might have to do things that are tedious and boring, you might have to meet people you don’t like, or you might have to work very hard to achieve your goal. Think of this toil as the penance for the goal and seek happiness in it. Remember gold needs to go through a furnace before it starts to glow and shine. A diamond is nothing but carbon. It has to withstand enormous pressure for many many years before it becomes a diamond. Similarly, for any commendable achievement, everybody has to make some sacrifices, do some tasks which we don’t like, or sometimes we have to just hope and wait for the results of our efforts. All this is ‘part of the game‘. It is not something which was not supposed to happen. So there is no reason to be unhappy. It will only make us stronger, better and eventually lead us towards the milestone. In simple words, Achieve Happily!!

Another important point to take note is that overcoming fear is the real achievement. The final outcome is only a tangible proof of your success. The real cause for celebration is the daily small tasks we do, irrespective of numerous fears we might have. So every small task, every small step of ours is a reason to be happy. Every moment along the way is the real source of happiness, and it is a wonder how many of us miss it.

So start living NOW. Enjoy what you are doing. This is the only moment you will ever have. This is the moment to celebrate. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is knowing that it is there and still dreaming to be bigger than your fear. I will end with a simple but very powerful quote –
“Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.”