We were taught that happiness is in arriving.
In school, we learned that success is arriving first, and that the failure is whoever arrives last. Everything became a race: who achieves faster, who arrives before the others, who collects more medals. And so we tied our happiness to a point in the future: when I arrive, I’ll be happy.
I spent years living by this rule. And I had my share of medals in the school of life. But I discovered, late, that happiness wasn’t in the moment I thought it was.
It wasn’t in arriving. It was in the pursuit.
The story that changed my understanding
Years ago, I decided to climb Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa.
The path is long and hard, hours of continuous walking. I’ll spare you the details and go straight to the moment of reaching the summit, the moment of elation. I won’t hide from you that there is real happiness when you arrive after all that effort.
But the surprise came afterward. When I made my way back down and gathered my thoughts, I noticed something strange: what stayed with me wasn’t the summit moment. It was a quick, passing moment. What stayed was the pursuit itself. The path, the effort, the fatigue, the small moments in the climb.
The moment of arrival was short. The pleasure of the pursuit was what lasted.
What’s the difference between the pleasure of arriving and the pleasure of the pursuit?
The pleasure of arriving is a moment. The pleasure of the pursuit is a state.
Arriving is an event that ends the instant it happens. You reach the summit, take a photo, and then what? The elation fades quickly, and you start searching for a new summit. The pursuit, by contrast, extends in time, filling all your days, not one moment of them.
Here’s the paradox we don’t notice: we hang our happiness on a moment that makes up one percent of the journey, and ignore the ninety-nine percent that remains. We spend a lifetime chasing moments of arrival, and pass over the pursuit as if it were a burden to endure until we arrive.
The truth is the reverse. Arriving is the passing moment. The pursuit is life.
Why do we confuse the two?
Because competition culture taught us to see the pursuit as merely a means.
In the logic of the race, the path has no value in itself. Its only value is that it gets you to the finish line. So we run, eyes on the end, not seeing what’s around us, not enjoying the step because we’re busy with the moment that will come after it.
But when you see the pursuit as only a means, you lose life. Because life, in its essence, is a continuous pursuit, not a series of finish lines.
Add to this that arriving isn’t always in your hands. You may not reach the summit for reasons beyond your control: the weather, the body, the circumstance. If you hung your happiness on arriving alone, you would make it hostage to what you don’t own. But the pursuit is in your hands. It’s the part you actually own.
How do we live the pleasure of the pursuit?
Three small shifts changed my relationship with the path.
First: separating my worth from the result. The result may come and may not. But my effort, my sincerity, my iḥsān on the path, these are always in my hands. When I tie my worth to the pursuit rather than the arrival, nothing collapses if I don’t arrive.
Second: paying attention to the step, not only the summit. Sometimes I stop midway, not only to rest, but to see where I am. What am I learning now? Whom do I meet? What is taking shape in me as I walk? Attention to the pursuit turns it from a burden into a pleasure.
Third: remembering that the pursuit shapes me. I can’t change the world, but the universe has fixed rules I interact with. And by the measure of the impact I place on the path, I take shape. I wasn’t created in vain, and arriving isn’t the goal. The pursuit itself is what makes me.
In closing
I’m still walking on a journey called life, searching for meaning. I’ve passed through different stages, some of them contradictory, but one of them I don’t dispute with myself: the pleasure of the pursuit.
It isn’t the summits that remain. What remains is the path we walked, and who we became because of it.
Don’t postpone your happiness to the moment of arrival. It isn’t there. It’s here, in the step you take now.
From Intention to Impact, the beginning isn’t yours and the arrival isn’t from you, but the pursuit is upon you. And in it lies all the pleasure.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between the pleasure of arriving and the pleasure of the pursuit?
The pleasure of arriving is a passing moment that ends the instant the goal is reached. The pleasure of the pursuit is an extended state that fills the whole path. The first makes up a small part of the journey, and the second is the journey itself.
Why do I feel empty after achieving my goals?
Because you hung your happiness on the moment of arrival, which is short by nature. When it ends, the emptiness appears. The solution is to move the source of your happiness from arriving to the pursuit, for the pursuit is extended and doesn’t break off.
How do I enjoy the path instead of waiting for the end?
Separate your worth from the result, for the result isn’t always in your hands while the pursuit is. Pay attention to what you learn and meet on the path. And remember that the pursuit itself is what shapes you, not the arrival.
