The Destination

I do a lot of internet surfing.  It is currently 2:30am, and I just caught up with a month of blogs that I have missed, researched careers, and imagined where I want to move to when I graduate college.  After that, I happened upon a website that lists inspirational quotes.  It was then when I found this gold nugget for thought:

The journey is more important than the destination.

This quote is very similar to the tattoo I got a few months ago. “Life is the journey.” Like most anyone’s tattoos, mine means so much to me.  However, by the slight adjustment of wording, it got me to thinking about my tattoo in a different way.

The only place we are all heading toward is death.  I know, I know- that is an extremely depressing thought, but hear me out.  If you ask people where they would rather be right now they would list destinations.  Some examples of “destinations” in this context include, but are not limited to,

Getting in shape
Becoming happy
Having a lot of money
Or, in my case, becoming successful.

But if we wait for that exact moment- that exact section of our lives- that we define as our “destination,” who is to say that we won’t miss it?  Who is to say that we will be able to detect exactly when we are at the peak, the pinpoint, of getting in shape?  How do we know that we are as happy as we are ever going to get?  Will there will be a big neon sign or blow horn saying you just reached the peak amount of income you will ever receive?  No.

The only thing that we know is going to happen is death.  Which is actually kind of beautiful if you think about it.  We have a finite amount of time on this earth.  It is that deadline that makes people move and take action.  I know that for me, knowing that I don’t have all the time in the world makes me extremely motivated to leave it better than I came into it.

Knowing that the only thing certain in life is death is important when trying to figure out the time between now and our REAL destination.  Steve Jobs once spoke at a college graduation about how on a tomb stone there is the year you were born and the year you died with a dash in between.  The year you were born doesn’t matter- you are already alive.  The year you die doesn’t matter because none of us know when that day will come.  It is the dash in between that matters.  "What will you do with your dash?” he asks.

I will use my dash the best I can.  I will follow my heart and create the career that I want.  Along the way, I will help others.  I will make them feel beautiful and appreciated.  I will make them feel like they matter.  Because, you know what?  They do.

Much Love,

Me