Life is the longest journey, our existence, our growth, our living and even our death.  It starts the moment we are born and the ends the moment we die.  Everything else in between is just a means to an end, an existence which is purely defined by our achievements and how we get from the start to the finish line.  There are many different paths that we are able to take, opportunities to be seized, lessons to learn which create moments of sheer happiness, and sadness.  There is loss, there is change but there is no set way in which we are to proceed in this thing we call life.  The more I think I can't help but wonder; if we are merely just finding different paths to get us to the finish line, why are we in such a hurry to get there and what is it we are looking for at the end?

Have you ever stopped and wondered what you really want to get out of life and this journey you are on?  What is the point to all the hustle and bustle, the trials and tribulations that we are facing daily and why are we all rushing to get to a point at which we aren't right now 100% sure exists?  We work for most of our lives, we build relationships with people, we hurt, we love, we cry and we smile.  We are continually moving along different paths, sometimes we chop and change and others we are at a standstill.  We all hear people say that as time goes by it seems to go faster and faster and we lose track of where we are, what has happened and we think about why.  Everybody is different, everybody has different values but have you ever stopped to think exactly where you are headed and what you really want when you get to the end?

My life has somewhat changed paths over the last few months, quite dramatically really being I am now living in Victoria trying to find my place in a totally different world than what I'm used to.  I'm at a point in my life where I am now forced to think about different paths, assess my priorities and figure out what truly matters to me.  My life before was somewhat monotonous, stagnant you could say where I was going through the motions day after day just wondering what was the point.  What did I want as time ticks by and the scenery speeds past quicker and quicker each day.  I made a choice, something completely different where I am forced out of my comfort zone to see how I bounce back, where the chips lay and how I put them back together again.  I'm still figuring this out as days go by and very slowly, pieces are fitting together in a puzzle that I have no idea what it looks like. 

Have you ever felt alone on your journey?  Like you're just driving down a long stretch of road and you feel like there is nothing ahead of you, nothing beside you and the loneliness is palpable?  You feel so transparent that you don't even know if people are seeing the real you?  I've had moments like this, fleeting as they are but enough to make me think about what I really want to get out of this journey, that maybe I need to slow down a little and just take in all the scenery and really take notice of where I am going.  When I have this feeling it really makes me understand what I do have in my life, more to the point it's the people I have around me who are making this road less rocky.  I need these people in my life as sometimes that feeling is so intense, that even a mere thought of them eases the pain and makes the journey more worthwhile.

I really did underestimate the effects such a major change in path was going to have on me.  I miss people, I miss routine, I miss the smiles on my niece and nephews faces when I walked into the room.  It sometimes brings a tear to my eye knowing that their paths are so far away from mine, that the intersections are fewer and further between than they used to be.  In the end I know this is actually helping me, I'm growing, I'm living and I am appreciating even more the things I have in my life that I may have taken for granted.  I now understand what people truly mean to me, their presence in my life is something to be coveted and is something special and not just those I have left behind, but also those that I have here with me now.  I have people, those very few who I have to help me in life's direst of circumstances, my people, who are apart of who I am and I just don't work without them.  Ask yourself who these people are in your life and are you truly appreciative of who they are for you?

I like to think that at this moment in time I am at a stop where I am truly trying to figure out where I am supposed to be going from here.  I have a new home, a new life and the real question remains on how I am going to start living it.  Everything here is new, I'm looking for a new job, I have new friends (plus a close old one), new priorities and a new road.  Now I just need to work on where that next path is going to lead me.  I'm beginning to realise that no matter what path I take, no matter how windy the road, what I am really heading towards is being truly happy.  It doesn't matter how much money I have, the amount of things that I own, it's more about those things that are important to me like friends, family and love.

I want you to think about the last time you felt truly happy, what was it in that exact moment that gave you that feeling.  Don't think about the physical aspects of that moment but the feeling.  What was it that made you feel this way?  I'm not talking about a particular person or thing, but the emotion behind that which made you stop, think and realise how special that moment is.  It may be feelings of success, accomplishment, acceptance and even Love.  This is what we are chasing, this is the point of the journey and why we do the things along the way that help us get there in the end.  We all know in the back of our minds that this is the reason we work so hard, we make directional choices and grow to be the best we can be because we know that when the journey is over and we've reached that finish line, that moment of true happiness is going to be there, waiting.

Mik ;)