The Happiness Of Pursuit

The Happiness Of Pursuit is a call to take control of your own life by going on a quest, which will fill your life with meaning, purpose, and a whole lot of adventure.

Chris says quests often arise from external events, which shake awake an inner calling we carry.

For example, you might have always wanted to be a race car driver (ahem), but you only realize it while sitting in the train to work one day, because it hits you that you never even drive any more.

Maybe you just feel like the king of the world when you find a new way to hack your blog’s HTML code, or suddenly realize your life might be shorter than you think.

Whatever the event is that feels like the wold calling out to you, listen to that feeling!

The idea to go on a quest can arise for the most various reasons, whether that’s passion, discontent, or an awareness of mortality, but the important part is that you don’t play it down.

Trust your gut, because the worst cause of unhappiness is regret.

So you have a crazy idea, and the will to take action, but what now?

Yeah, I know, you can’t become a race car driver tomorrow, but there is always something you can do. For example you could spend 30 minutes a day learning everything there is to know about race cars, while saving up money in order to book a day at a race track where you can drive one. Going on a quest will often require you to adjust your life, but that doesn’t make your quest any less meaningful. Sasha Martin wanted to travel the world, but like most people, she didn’t have the money. Instead, she decided to cook a meal from every country in the world and thus, bring the world right into her home. By documenting her journey she’s inspired thousands of people around the world, probably much more than she had if she had just gone to travel around on her own. Chris himself had to live a very minimalist life for several years, in order to afford all his travels. After initially calculating, and seeing that a trip around the world would set him back $30,000, which wasn’t as bad as he had thought, he of course didn’t have that money just lying around. So he decided to cut back on a lot of material possessions, travel lightly and stretch his travels over a few years and voila, he completed his quest. For Four Minute Books, I had to make some adjustments as well. I’d love to read a book a day, but I have neither the money to…