Seek the Experience, Leave the Stuff Behind

Opportunity knocks at your door. You are seeking excitement and pleasure. Which do you choose: a vacation or a shopping spree? If you have the opportunity for an experience rather than stuff, I might re consider your need for more stuff.

On the Oprah show a few weeks ago, she spent the show focusing on happiness. A happiness Consultant reported that “stuff” can bring you happiness for up to 9 months; an amazing experience can bring you happiness for a lifetime. Telling and re- telling of your adventures, showing pictures, re-living the experience continues to fill your being with joy. Though my months of living in Honduras was over 15 years ago, I am consumed with joy and excitement when I tell those stories of adventure. ( got an hour? ok maybe 2, I don’t want to leave out the good details!) My kid gets a bike and he is thrilled. He has stopped talking about it after a few weeks. He still remembers every moment of our family vacation to the Dominican Republic last year.

Set up a Joy Fund, just like a Vacation Fund and a Rainy Day Fund but a Joy Fund is for experiences that you choose for a more joyful being. You are worth it. You are deserving. Yes You!!!

In one of my favorite, definitely worth reading books called Flow by M. Csikszentmihalyi, he explains the following;
“One of the most ironic paradoxes of our time is this great availability of leisure that somehow fails to be translated into enjoyment. Compared to people living only a few generations ago, we have enormously greater opportunities to have a good time, yet there is no indication that we actually enjoy life more than our ancestors did. Opportunities alone are not enough. We also need the skills to make use of them. Surrounded by an astounding panoply of recreational gadgets and leisure choices, most of us go one being bored and vaguely frustrated.”

Get excited! Seek the experience! Grab a friend and go snowshoeing deep within the woods. Go skiing and stop to breathe in the scenery. Book a last-minute vacation anywhere outside your comfort zone (and maybe your time zone too). Talk about it. Re-live it. Show pictures. Carry the thoughts, the memories in your heart and let them resonate within your soul.

Seek the Experience. Leave the stuff behind.