COLUMN: Enjoy the Journey
Editor’s Note: To submit a response to this column, or submit a letter to the editor on a new topic, email your submission to opinion@usustatesman.com
At midnight on July 1, the NBA turned it’s calendar to a new year and the league’s free agency period opened up (bear with me, I promise this isn’t a sports column!) One of the most notable signings of the first week was all-star center DeMarcus Cousins agreeing to a contract with the Golden State Warriors, winners of last year’s NBA Finals and three of the past four overall. The move gave the Warriors an all-star-caliber player at all five positions, a claim that is almost unthinkable in today’s age of free agency and player movement.
Almost immediately, fans and media members fell into biblical-levels of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing, worrying about an already-dominant team adding another elite player and turning next season’s championship into a foregone conclusion.
But all that fretting is missing the point, and I think the complaints are indicators of a larger societal problem: We focus so much on reaching our overall goals that we don’t know how to enjoy the journey.
Life, like sports, should be about more than the final destination. But so much of our mental energy seems to be spent thinking about where we want to be eventually that we forget to find joy in the process.
Because earning a degree is so important, expensive and time-consuming, those of us in college seem particularly susceptible to this. But we need to look for opportunities to enjoy the everyday process.
Take the time to walk the long way across campus and appreciate how beautiful it is. Go see that movie you’ve been waiting for, or take that day trip you’ve been talking about, find a cozy place to read a new book, or just get your friends together and play wiffle ball in the park. Treat yourself and take a nap after class or sit outside while you’re doing your homework — and please, please take time to celebrate your successes, especially the small ones.
Having long-term, overarching goals is critically important, but if you’re only satisfied when you graduate, or get a job, or get married, or get a house, or whatever your goals are, then the sweetest moments of life will be missed.
At the risk of sounding like an Etsy product, the happiest memories often come from small, unexpected moments.
That’s one reason I love sports so much. I have so many small, wonderful memories I’ve made over the years, and none of them have involved a championship parade.
Knowing there’s a team besides my beloved Jazz that will get to raise the trophy at the end of the year shouldn’t lessen my enjoyment of all the games before then. It doesn’t take away from the fun of going to the games with my family, or talking about the team with my friends, or calling my dad to relive the final exhilarating moments of whatever mid-December game the Jazz just won.
No matter what, reaching our goals is going to involve a journey. My hope is that we enjoy all the steps of that process, not just the final one.
On a recent trip to Yellowstone with my wife and some friends, we came around a bend in the road on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs and were met with one of the most amazing vistas I’ve ever seen. It was spectacularly beautiful. We only had a single day to spend in the park and were hurrying to see as many of the landmarks as possible, but we pulled the car over and took a long time to appreciate the view.
That moment made the whole trip worth it — all of the driving time, the cost, and the hassle of coordinating with multiple people to find an open weekend between work and summer school. It’s a wonderful memory that I’ll cherish for a long time, but it’s also one we would’ve missed had we only been focused on the goals we started the trip with.
I don’t care that my team isn’t going to win the championship next year, and I don’t care that I’m still in school, because the process is inherently beautiful and wonderful. Our journeys through life are all going to end the same way — what matters most is how many happy memories we make before we reach the end.
Thomas Sorenson is a graduate student in the MBA program. He loves pizza, puppies, his wife and Donovan Mitchell, but not necessarily in that order.