Saturday, September 12, 2020

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.

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