The Journey is the Destination

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the journeys each of us is on, especially after releasing “Two Feet at a Time.” That song has made me think a lot about my own journey and the journeys of others—it’s literally an ode to the journey and not fearing it. I came across this quote, “The journey is the destination.” That quote came from a young man named Dan Eldon who was a journalist and artist who died at a very young age while covering the upheaval in Somalia during the ‘90s. His death was a rather tragic one. He did not know that he would die at 22. He did not know that he would get stoned to death. He lived life like he was on the journey for as long as he could, never taking a day for granted.

That’s when I had an epiphany of what life’s journey should really be. What if instead of striving to get to the next goal and thinking that is our life’s purpose, it was instead to live life not knowing exactly what the destination is because it is unfolding before our eyes?

I thought a lot about Dan’s life and how he lived it and what lessons we can impart from his journey and his now-famous quote. What if we stop trying to predict where we should be headed and just enjoy the ride and be grateful to live another day? What if we stop getting so upset when we don’t hit a milestone that we feel like we should be hitting and instead understand that we are right where we should be? What if we stop coveting what everyone else has and start to be grateful for what we have known that it’s just what we need for our journey—maybe that Lexus is going to weigh you down in the end after all ;) What if we could just enjoy the fact that we are right where we need to be for wherever we are headed knowing that we will continue to get there two feet at a time? Let’s get excited by the prospect of not knowing exactly where we are going and embrace the ambiguity, uncertainty, and cloudiness—maybe the clouds actually are all the clarity we need. 

As you might be able to tell, I think a lot about life and why we do what we do. I also think a lot about how we can be content and just enjoy every second that we have. I know that Dan is probably looking at all of us wondering why we didn’t just live a little bit more instead of thinking about what we haven’t done to get where we want to go. Perhaps if we just relax and settle into the journey of our life, we will appreciate it for all that it is: a unique story, one that is worthy of living.