On the road to contentment

Every now and then I’ll read something that really speaks to me, or expresses what I’ve been thinking or trying to communicate. Today I stumbled across an article that made me go, “Yes! YES!! Gotta share this all over the place!”

The article in The Guardian is “Oliver Burkeman's last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life.” Some of his “secrets” apply to the nomad life:

• When stumped by a life choice, choose ‘enlargement’ over happiness

• The capacity to tolerate minor discomfort is a superpower

• The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it

• Know when to move on

Of course, Burkeman wasn’t writing specifically to nomads. What he wrote applies to life in general, probably universally. Being self-aware, choosing priorities, accepting our limitations, and so on.

We live in a world where productivity (usually for someone else’s benefit) and the material trappings of success are supposedly the indicators of The Good Life. I used to believe—really believe—that was true. But now I see it’s about personally-directed, personally-defined fulfillment and contentment. May you find it for yourself.