From stef du plessis

You only get to see what lies beyond the horizon when you get there... equally, you have to go the distance before you get a glimpse of what's inside you.

We all know this to be true. But while this powerful philosophy can lead us to greatness, it also brings risk because we often wish for what lies beyond, rather than embracing where we are at in the present.

In fact, if it is true that we have to first go as far as we can see before we can see any further, then it also implies that there is no failure. Each step is victorious because each steps leads to the next step... which leads to the next... and the next.

Consider this: If we were to follow our tracks back from whatever destination we reach, no matter how high the pinnacle or how great the achievement, if we were to follow our tracks back to where we started, we will find that each step was entirely necessary. No steps were wasted, for without each step, there was no progress. So, as long as we make our way beyond each and every setback, there are no failures. Failure is only failure when it becomes a destination, if we stop and take no more new steps.

Yet somehow we continue to live our lives as if the destination will hold the key to our happiness: When I get to big school, when I graduate, get a job, get married, get back from honeymoon, have children, after they children leave home, after my retirement... Always after!!

We keep on wishing that our in-trays could be empty, worrying about what may happen... not living in the moment. We fail to understand that happiness is not a distant destination at which we have yet to arrive.

Happiness and contentment is a way of being. They are inside of us, if only we want to get on with living life! Happiness is right where you are now - but you have to make it your own. Stop wasting time. Understand that there is no distant finishing line that marks "success".

Become who you were meant to be and only then will you see that you can be even more. But cherish the journey for now, it's all you have.