I recently had a chance to share my life lessons with the good people over at GoodEnoughMother.com, and while I am neither a mother, nor debatably “good enough” I enjoy interviews because it always makes me think about questions everyone should know the answers to, for themselves.
Are you happy? What would be your advice to your 16-year-old self? My favorite question, which I have been asked many times in various press pieces this year, what is the most important thing you have learned this year?
My answers always end up somehow rooted in travel. For it is in travel that we get out of the zombie like state that sometimes takes over our lives. The sameness is no longer same. The newness seems to grab you by your soul and beg you to improve, to smile, to grow. I especially enjoy travel which mirrors life. Travel that involves a bit of struggle, that challenges you somehow, where a thunderstorm and cockroach leads to the unforgettable “rainbows and butterflies.” If you have traveled outside of big resorts and cruise lines I think you probably know exactly what I mean. Travel reminds us to live in the moment, even though sometimes this can be hard.
Travel sometimes is meant to save us, and indeed sometimes it is the only thing that could. It can be an adventure and make us feel alive. What is the secret to happiness? Enjoying the moment. For me it is that simple. The Camino de Santiago taught me that. It really really taught me that. I recognize it now in everyday life and making plans for the next, even failing at the now.
So I ask you, are you happy? What is your secret to happiness? Do you need a change? My lock screen still shows me that stone my walking stick fell on along the Way:
GABRIEL SCHIRM 