We Can Enjoy the Way There
We can be pleased with our progress and still want to go further. Those two feelings can sit together.
If we are learning a skill, we may enjoy doing something today that we couldn’t do last month. We are still a beginner in many ways, but there is something real to appreciate.
The same can happen with a project. A room is unfinished, yet one corner is taking shape. A piece of writing still needs work, yet a paragraph finally says what we meant.
We don’t have to withhold every bit of satisfaction until the whole goal is complete. Noticing progress can be part of the experience of working toward it.
And enjoyment needn’t depend entirely on achievement. We can appreciate the company, the learning, or a welcome break along the way.
A goal gives us a direction. There is also a life being lived while we move toward it.
Name one thing you appreciate about where you are now, and one thing you would still like to work toward.
Stay with this thought
In the earlier article, I distinguished being happy from being fully satisfied. The useful part of that distinction is the permission to appreciate the present while remaining interested in what comes next.
Wanting to improve something does not require disliking ourselves or our lives. We can make room for both gratitude and ambition in proportions that feel right for us.