Anticipation or Accomplishment ?

You probably realize by now that a decent sized chunk of my life revolves around challenging preconceived notions. Today is certainly no exception.

It is a commonly held belief that, our accomplishments in life are what really matter and that the road traveled is less important than where we end up. But that is simply not true. For one, because there are a lot of unsavory ways of reaching perfectly good goals. And the second and more important point has less to do with morals and more to do with psychology.

When are children happier and more excited about Christmas, the day after Christmas or the day before?

For many of us the whole month of December is filled with the magic of the approaching holiday. The temperatures start to fall. People smile a bit more to one another. There is this inexplicable feeling of mystery and something positive in the air. There are fond thoughts of spending time with our relatives, and other people we never seem to see enough of. The anticipation is tremendous and awesome and drives us to do many great things for those we care about.

But what about December 26th and after? Once it it's all over, that feeling vanishes and people go back to being jerks to one another.  Anticipation 1 Accomplishment 0

How about students in school advancing towards a degree?
There's all this talk of what they are going to be and all the energy devoted towards accomplishing that goal. Tons of fun and creativity go into getting the desired degree. But once they have it, what then? The excitement about that particular thing vanishes and a new goal is then made.

What about several hours before vs several hours after a sexual encounter? 

Are you noticing a pattern? Anticipation is really where its at. When we are working towards a goal we are inspired. Our imagination and creativity are fully engaged. There is more passion, desire and focus than at any other time in our lives.

What do we have afterwards? Some fond memories, pictures and maybe a plaque upon our wall.  Speaking from experience, I can certainly say that, yes it does feel good to be able to look back and remember a thing that I have accomplished, to be able to point to a thing and say I did that. But what I remember most strongly are the things that happened along the way, the challenges that sprang up, the fun that was had brainstorming, while searching for a way around the obstacles. I remember the experiences that were involved in getting to the goal and the time I shared with the people that worked with me to meet those accomplishments.

Our accomplishments themselves pale in comparison to the path we walk to achieve them. They serve as great milestones at varying points in our life and help us to determine what we should work towards next. But the real joys in life are to be found on our way to and not at the finish lines of each race.