All you ever wanted to know about the pursuit of Happiness (but were afraid to ask)





If you ever thought life and the search for happiness was a linear quest that begins at birth and ends at death, with ups and downs, bumps and holes, treasures and falls on the way, boy, were you wrong! 

Life is a circle, a running track, and you keep running and doing laps, just changing faces and characters, but doing the same mistakes all over again, many times over.

It looks something like this: You’re single. You meet someone. Something in your head goes like “yep!” You talk. You sit in bar. You drink. You laugh. You agree on many things. You talk about your past. You listen about her past. She says something that clicks. You say something that clicks. You laugh. You walk her home. You kiss. You phone. You agree that you had many things that clicked. You meet again. You sit in a bar. You talk. She says something that clicks again. So you kiss her again. You walk her home and go up to her place. You wake up in the morning. You’re happy. You go out to get breakfast. Everything‘s strange and exciting. You start thinking that this lap could be different from all the previous ones.  Sadly, you’ve just run past the first curve. You meet her friends. They tell her they like you. You tell her you like them too even though they said things you really didn't like.  She meets your friends. They tell you they like her. She says she like them too even though they said things she really didn't like. You say something that doesn’t click. She says something that doesn't click. You fight. You forgive. You’re running past the second curve and move in together. You shop. You eat. You sleep. You still go out to get breakfast in the morning. You don’t find everything strange and exciting. She goes out. You go out. She comes back and says something horrible. You say something even worse. She yells at you. You yell at her. She forgives you. You forgive her. You kiss and run past the third curve. You come home very late. She comes home even later. You yell at her. She yells at you. You don’t forgive her. She doesn’t forgive you. You sleep. You fight. You wonder. You can’t remember that thing that went like “yep!” in your head. She says a lot of things that don’t click anymore, many times, everyday. You say a lot of things that don’t click anymore, many times, everyday. You don’t kiss. You don’t forgive. You shop. You eat. You sleep. You work.  You pass the final curve and get into your final sprint. You go home. Something inside your head goes like, “nah!” You break-up. You meet your friends. You’re alone. You work. You’re alone. You shop. You’re alone. You eat. You’re alone. You sleep. You’re alone. You suffer. You drink too much one night. You text her and then you phone her. You fight over the phone. She tells you she hates you. You hang up! You hate her too! Wait? You’re about to cross the finish line and go for another round. Maybe you stop to breathe, drink some water, rest your legs, but soon enough, you're off again, on a slow trot at first. You meet your friends. You laugh again. You feel better. You follow them into a new bar. Damn, you’re single. But you don't feel alone anymore. You turn around, you see someone and something in your head goes like “yep!”

The interesting thing, though, is that while you keep running in circle, you get brief chances at making minimal changes to the experience. And maybe one glorious day, you could run that perfect lap. 

At least I hope so.

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