We chase ..we chase …we chase …until we drop dead

The race actually starts even before we are born, because if we weren't the fastest sperm to catch the egg, even birth would not have happened, so maybe it's not a surprise that from that moment onwards, the rest of our lives are spent chasing after one thing after another and our lives turn into this mad race during which we never stop to breathe, never take a moment to enjoy what we have.. enjoy the sights and smells around us and savour the life that we have been given... all because we've been programmed to chase and chase and chase... Till we drop dead.

Don’t you remember the time when we were kids and were taught that we have to chase after the highest position? Our self worth was based on how fast we ran, or how high we finished. How far we left the closest competitor behind, and god help you if you stopped for a moment to enjoy the victory you worked so hard for. No, the chase was on again for the next level, the next position or the next medal.. We were told that standing still and savoring the victory was not worth it, because there were greater goals to be chased down... bigger positions to make our own, higher benchmarks to be reached... And so the chase started again. When we had the toy that we really wanted, we wanted the new toy that came into the market. When we had the newest dress in the store, we wanted the one that someone else had... Because suddenly ours wasn't pretty enough and theirs was way better... when we had the prettiest girl in the class on our arms, we wanted the prettiest girl in the school. Someone or something was always better than what we had and so the chase began again... When we finished at the top of the class, we chased the record that was set by a somebody we didn't even know. But suddenly, beating them became crucial to our happiness…

Why were we never taught that the journey of life is about enjoying the path instead of seeking the thrill of the chase? Why were we, as kids, never explained that it isn't so much about the speed at which you drive yourself on the road of life, but the route that you take and the joy that the journey gives us that truly matters? Why were we never made to understand that life isn't about reaching a pre-decided destination, but about enjoying every moment of that journey, and sometimes about letting the wind blow us in directions and on paths we'd never considered ourselves? When our lives are driven by the compulsive need to chase and conquer, don’t we surround ourselves with negative emotions?? Do we really want to spend our lives looking over our shoulder to see how far behind our closest competitor is? Does it really matter if we reach our goal a few minutes after we thought we would? Why are we consumed with jealously at the thought of  someone overtaking us? Why do we set ourselves up for that gut-wrenching feeling loss and despair if we don’t make it where we wanted to, if we don’t get what we want or finish at the top? It's because we make the destination so important that we forget that the journey was the fun that was to be had ..

We do this chasing in our work, in our relationships and in everything else of significance to us. We simply never stop chasing... From one destination to another, from one dream to another. We run at such high speed from the moment we are born, convinced that if we run fast enough, nothing and no one will be able to catch up. But that isn't quite how it works out, does it. Because one day, life does catch up and demands an explanation... And unfortunately, for most of us, by then it's probably too late. It's at that time that we realise that the summit that has been reached is not the final summit and we have to chase again.. It's at that time we realise that the grey in our hair is not because we savoured every moment of that journey, but because we were just so caught up in running at breakneck speed...

We chase happiness too... We chase the person who we feel will give us the happiness we seek, but what do we do when we get that person? We don’t cherish the moments we have with them, simply because we're programmed to become restless and start chasing for something bigger, something better. Suddenly, that happiness isn't enough and it's imperative that we move on to the next target before we're nudged out of the race. Teach your kids that life is a journey and not a never-ending race... It's about moments and not some finite destination that they must reach... It's about the sights and sounds and smells that are waiting to greet us, if only we let them, by the wayside on the road called life. But we can only enjoy them when we stop running after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… Because the pot of gold will never be enough... But what can be enough is the joy that you experience while living that journey... If only you let it.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving anywhere, because no one knows what the final destination really is...