Often times where one wants to be isn’t where they are.  Whether that be physically or emotionally.

I remember a simpler time where I would want for relatively nothing.  That is, non-life changing things.  That new game, new console, new walkman.  Life and experience wasn’t being forced down my throat, and the harsh reality of one small thing dramatically affecting another was non existent.

Sometimes I want to be back there.  Back in that time.  I believe I would appreciate it more knowing what I know now.  But I guess that this is the general curse that all of us are faced with.  It’s hard to really appreciate something till it’s gone.

These days I live my life attacking my goals, which unfortunately leaves very little time for appreciating my achievements.  I believe the only way to gain something that you’ve thought about in depth, is to throw yourself head first into it without thinking.

Now let me clarify that.  You’ve already done the thinking prior by deciding that you want whatever it may be, and during that stage you should’ve thought out a plan of how to achieve that thing.  After this, and only after this, you throw yourself into the plan without thinking, without worrying.  Just start the snowball rolling.  If the snowball stops, re-assess, then give it another shove.

The problem with this is, you get what you want.  But if you don’t go out of your way to stop to appreciate what you’ve just achieved, or even stop to appreciate the little achievements during the journey, you end up moving onto the next thing without appreciating what you already have.

I’m not that old, and I don’t believe I’ve achieved everything that I could’ve.  I frequently fall into a depressive mindset, where all I can see is where I want to be/am heading.  I forget about the journey so far, and I end up thinking that things are taking me too long…and that I’m getting too old.

The reality is, I’m missing my little achievements along the way.  They’re insignificant to the larger goal in my mind, but they shouldn’t be.  Sitting back, and typing this is helping me to remember what I have gained so far.  A beautiful girlfriend that loves me dearly and that I love, parents whom I love very much, a car that as a teenager I always dreamed of owning, my own home on a large block of land in the neighbourhood I grew up in, the ability to express myself artistically through music and photographs, renewed friendship with an old friend.  The end goal is still there, and it still feels very far off, but these achievements along the way make the time spent well worth it…