Your Goals Can Wait, But Your Happiness Won’t

Nowadays, so many of us live in a world where we are constantly oscillating between being completely burnt out and never feeling like we’re doing enough. Our fast-paced lifestyles of constantly trying to work ourselves into the ground eventually catch us from behind with feelings of overwhelm, heavy burden, and self-doubt that ultimately destroy our happiness and our well-being.

Nowadays on social media, it’s so easy to constantly compare ourselves to others. We constantly use other people’s journey as a metric to measure our own self-worth, as though their journey is more important than our own.

But I need you to know that your goals can wait, but your happiness won’t.

Your goals and aspirations will always be there, waiting for you to chase after them. But your happiness in this very moment will not always be there, because true and ever-lasting happiness is not something that you chase or need to catch. Happiness is a state that must be felt in this moment. It is not something that can be accomplished or achieved.

For so much of my young adult life, I was always feeling as though I was never doing enough, or better yet, never worth enough. But as I make my way into my mid-20s, I’ve come to realize that I’ve spent far too much time focusing my energy and effort on the things that don’t truly matter.

Because although our goals and dreams are important, they are not everything. The achievement of them will never give us the same fulfillment that a simple morning cup of coffee with a friend does. The achievement of them will never give us the same fulfillment that taking in the fresh air and the gentle breeze that a beautiful day outside will. And the achievement of our goals will never give us more fulfillment than the joy we will experience throughout the process of working towards them will.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate more balance in my life. Balancing the ebbs and flows of hard work, with the gentle drizzle of rest and relaxation, spending time with loved ones, and being more present to the moment. At first this was so difficult for me, as my body and soul was not used to letting go of society’s boundaries and expectations that constricted me to the ground.

But over time, I began to see the beauty of life again and I began to just simply float. I began to try and absorb all of life’s many shades and colors that make being alive in this moment a perfect one. Because learning how to slow down when you need to and learning how to work hard when you want to is perhaps one of the most vital life skills that you can ever have.

So to you, the person reading this who’s chasing their goals without enjoying them along the way:

We are not meant to be perfect, nor are we meant to work ourselves into the ground. We are here to appreciate and live through the many different experiences that life has to offer, but more importantly, be able to enjoy them fully. Your goals will wait. But your happiness won’t.

And if we don’t lead our day with the intention to put happiness and love first and before all, then we may end up missing out on life itself and all that we’re here to feel and experience.