Rooftop Revelations: Some Final Thoughts on the Journey

“Happiness is a journey, not a destination” – Ben Sweetland 

I have to double back to Austin for some final thoughts. Austin was refreshing, I think because I was with Beth.

Bethy and I are soul sisters. Cut from the same cloth. The original Whole Foods in Austin has a rooftop picnic area. It offers a spectacular view of the city’s skyline and sunset. Beth and I grabbed a six-pack of craft beers from inside, winter lagers, oatmeal porters and the like. We sat at a picnic table and watched the sky melt from day to night between the buildings, like a crayon box of reds and blues left in your car for too long. 

Beth and I are the kind of friends who can talk about everything from sex to sports. From farts to Freud. We can be deep or walk a fine line between childhood and adolescence.

We sat and discussed my trip. The purpose behind it and she told me how proud she was of me. How brave I am for doing it. Which brought up the question of bravery and whether I was truly brave or a coward. Was I venturing out or running away?

They say, “Wherever you go, there you are.”

Is a change of scenery really enough to make the changes you want to see in yourself and your life? I know a lobotomy is extreme and a wee bit too far – so maybe my soul-searching, literal journey to satisfy my wanderlust was a happy medium?

The rooftop opened us up to talking about our lives. Where we stand and where we are going. I had this strange new epiphany – the secret to life’s happiness, if you will. You need three things in your life that you must love to be happy: the location, the people and your work. The Trifecta. Generally, you just need two of three to feel satisfied. But I’ve seen people have all three; that means it exists. I feel like my life offers me pieces of those three, where one makes the others more bearable at any given time. But I don’t love any of them fully. I want to qualify this statement by saying this was my mindset at the time of our conversation – take no offense, my beloved location, people and work.

We talked about how our decisions in life got us to where we were. How it would be our decisions that would get us to where we want to go. And how we both felt like we might, for the first time in our lives, be on the right tracks.

Now that I’m back home, the rooftop revelations haven’t been lost, only slightly altered or melted together. I believe now, more than ever, that happiness is a choice. If you don’t like your life change it. That’s a tough notion to swallow. Life gets twisted. Things go wrong. It’s how you react and what you do after the twists and the wrongs that make you who you are. I know that I will never be happy, until I choose not to be miserable and I will never have a better life, unless I start living one.
The result has been a fresh, positive attitude at work, making my shifts go by quickly and with less stress. Exploring new places in my city, making it new and interesting to me. And making a point to spend quality time with friends, having meaningful conversations, which has made my people more valuable. So maybe I had my trifecta all along? I’m not sure how one might determine the over-under on happiness, but I’m willing to bet I might cover the spread, after all. I’m on the journey, anyway…