Pursue Your Happiness

We all have a spot in life—a place in the world where

we feel happier and more energized. When you’re at
your
spot, you know it because it’s where you feel at your
very
best just for the mere fact of being there. That was the
case when I first stepped foot in San Diego at the age
of
twenty-one. The weather was perfect, the beaches
were
beautiful, and the vibe was one I can only describe as
“surfer casual”—shorts and fl ip-fl ops were
permanently
in fashion and considered acceptable attire
everywhere I
went. As an added bonus, snow skiing was just two
hours
away. You could literally be on the slopes and then
back
in the waves on the same day! I kept thinking to
myself, I
hope I live here one day.
Sure enough, I came out to San Diego to pursue my
happiness. It was there that I fi nished my formal
education,
and during that time I got married, started my career,
and spent unforgettable times with friends. Both my
wife
and I felt like we had found our spot. But only after we
moved away did this realization became clearer. While
moving allowed us to focus on our professional goals
and
get back on our feet fi nancially, we continually found
ourselves
yearning to be back in California.
Late one September evening after almost eight years
of
being away, we came to the conclusion that the time
had
come to reclaim our spot in San Diego. We missed
being
there and knew it was the place we wanted to raise
our
kids. However, we had some very real concerns. Would
we
be able to afford it? Would we be able to fi nd new
jobs?
Would we still like it as much as we did before? The
only
thing we were certain of was that we defi nitely
wanted to
be there and if we stayed away any longer, we might
regret
it for the rest of our lives. After weighing the pros and
cons, we decided to put our house on the market the
next
morning for the sake of pursuing our happiness.
Little did we know what would occur the following
day: September 11, 2001. Suddenly selling a house
and
making a major life change seemed like a bad idea.
But as
dis illusionment set in, it also helped clarify what we
needed
to do. If there was ever a time to pursue our
happiness, that
time was now when it felt like the world was falling
apart
all around us. We elected to stick with our plan and
put up
the For Sale sign. To our surprise, our house sold in
only
one week. Sadly, the people who bought it had just
lost
a family member in the World Trade Center tragedy.
Just
one month later we were back in San Diego, a spot
that we
have no intention of leaving any time soon.
When you pursue your happiness, you are making a
statement that you are committed to living a life
where
you feel energized and inspired. This doesn’t mean
you
have to move to a new city or make an abrupt change
in
your life but simply that you plan to follow your heart
in
the name of being happy. Whether it’s pursuing a job
at
a company where you’d love to work, pursuing a
relationship
that you really want to develop, or pursuing a dream
that you’ve put on hold, the quest to be happy is a
cause
worth fi ghting for. Pursue your happiness and see how
the
world looks brighter.