Life Really Is About The Journey…

People can learn a thing or two from dogs…

There is a quote by American author Ralph Waldo Emerson in an essay he wrote in 1841 titled, Self Reliance, which said, “It’s not the destination. It’s the journey.” This has been twisted a few different ways over the years, but the most common saying now seems to be, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

The entire basis of any variation of this quote is that we need to focus on what is in front of us and enjoy the ride as we go. This seems easy enough in theory, but life has a funny way of messing that up for us.

I had an opportunity recently to truly reflect upon this.

My dog was diagnosed with liver failure. When faced with the thought of losing my best little buddy, I was devastated. As we were riding in the car to go to the vet for some tests I looked in the mirror and saw my dog with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he happily stuck his head out the window. He was thrilled to be in the car and was loving every second of it.

At that moment, it made me realize he had no clue what was going on. He didn’t know what was wrong with him or how serious it was, and he had no clue where we were going, nor did he care. The purpose of the ride this day was to find out if he was going to live or die, but all he knew was he was going for a ride.

The destination did not matter.

I was crushed thinking about his issues, but when I looked in the mirror in that moment, I saw nothing but pure joy and enjoyment of life as he was sticking his head out the window, doing what dogs do.

He was curious to see all there was to see, and to sniff all there was to sniff.

I couldn’t get over how he was just enjoying everything the world has offer as he was unknowingly facing a potentially fatal diagnosis. It brought tears to my eyes because what I was witnessing was pure innocence the likes of which humans could never comprehend. Everything was about the journey, and nothing more.

This really hit home with me.

It made me realize we all should be enjoying the ride everyday in life. Not just because life is short, but because we are missing out on so much happiness. It’s not realistic to be naive to the world, but we need to better appreciate the things that are right in front of us. Dogs are apparently smarter than people to figure this out, but then again, dogs can also love unconditionally and are loyal to a fault far more than any human could ever be.

Perhaps they’re on to something…

Life may suck at times, and you may be faced with some intense adversity in your world, but the truth is, you have to find your happy, because there IS happy to be found. You just might need to stick your head out the window while driving to find it.

~ Marty ~

… Luckily, the vet said my dog’s condition is probably not going to be fatal. Everything happens for a reason, and I believe this reason was I needed a wake up call to appreciate the positive things of the world around me. Just live life, have fun, and stop worrying.

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