Are We Missing the Purpose in the Journey?
In a world and culture where we are told to find our passions, dream big, and all truth is relative, many are starting to see the value in our life journey, rather than just in the destination. But a dangerous concept has been floating around that our journey is the destination.
Journeys are not our destinations, but our rewards. Everyone arrives somewhere in life, but few arrive there on purpose. Without a goal, a vision, or an intention, we could journey towards a random place our whole lives without becoming the people we want to be in the process.
But we can flip the order to create a life of impact. If we make a goal, strive towards it with all our being, and still fall short, there is still joy in the journey. Even if we don’t make it to the highest podium or the stage that we wanted, the end result will at least have been obtained on purpose.
Helen Keller said, “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Although I don’t think that works out geographically, I love the metaphor.
Sometimes I look at life and I wish I had a fast forward remote. I wish I could just hit the skip button and go to the next season of my life where the problem is worked out, where my injury is healed, or where I experience an incredible victory. But then I would land at the moon without even knowing I was aiming for it, and I would miss the brilliance of all the stars along the way.
“A problem doesn’t bring you to tears of joy when it’s solved if you never experienced the tears of pain that accompanied its inception. ”
No destination is worth it without the process of the journey. A podium or record means nothing if you didn’t put in the work to get there. A victory over an injury wouldn’t be satisfying if you didn’t rack up hours overcoming your setback in the physical therapy room. A problem doesn’t bring you to tears of joy when it’s solved if you never experienced the tears of pain that accompanied its inception.
We all picture the end result, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. But when things don’t turn out exactly like what we had pictured, when the dream isn’t accomplished or we fail to meet our own expectations, where do we go from there? We look at the journey. We look at all that we’ve overcome and learned along the way. And then we realize that it was in those moments that we have the greatest reward.
At the end of your career, you might remember a special play or a great race, but more often than not, you’ll remember the night you got home at 3 a.m. from a travel meet and your coach still made you go to morning practice. You’ll remember the time you ran suicides until you puked. You’ll remember the hardest workout you ever completed, and you’ll remember who you did it with. The journey creates a bond stronger than any accomplishment ever will.
Even when we do experience the victory, the gold medal is not the reward, but the journey. Why do you think everyone always thanks the people who got them to the top? Champions thank their supporters because they never would have gotten to the podium without the journey and those who helped them on the way. You can have a medal wrapped around your neck, and the first things you think of are all the people who helped you and all the hours of work it took to get there.
Without the journey, you can never appreciate the victory or the failure. With genuine appreciation for your journey, if you win, you can do so with class and humility, knowing from where you came. If you lose, you can do so with grace, knowing that there is so much more to the story than anyone else will ever realize. Either way, the journey is the reward.
Tera Bradham
Tera Bradham is an author and motivational speaker. She swam for the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University before living in South America for a year. Returning to Texas, she taught Spanish and was the head swim coach at Meridian World School. She now dabbles in triathlons and enjoys exploring the mountains of her new home, Bozeman, Montana. Her heart's deepest desire is to empower others to fight for the destiny they were made to live.