Are You Happy?

If someone asked me: “Are you happy? Happy with your life right now and the path you took to get here?” My answer would have to be “yes”. But I never had a plan. I just started driving toward an unknown destination, taking exits that felt right even if they were left. What else can you do if you never know what you want to be when you grow up? Right now, at age 66, I still don't know. So I look at it like a Zen thing, it just is what it is and I just am what I am. And that's OK with me. Certainly I envied many of those along the way who knew, set a course and plotted out a map to where they thought they wanted to go. But even with those people, so many had to deal with roadblocks that took them in an entirely different direction. Life intervenes. I've long embraced the belief that things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out. And no looking back with regret. Whatever could have happened, did. And now that I've traveled these many unplanned miles, I've come to a place of perspective. A big yardstick in our culture is money and certainly I'm a lot less wealthy than I had expected to be at my age. But that is balanced by my surprising lack of concern. My real wealth is in the many things that have nothing to do with money. I'm not known for being an expert in any field, I'm no guru of anything in particular. And yet, I'm a very successful person and I know it. That's what matters, that perspective. I didn't arrive at this spot on a map by design, I just bumbled into it as I lead a happy life, every mile along the way...happy because I choose to be...and that is a choice we can all make every day.