“Maybe life’s more about carving out happy chapters than finding a single happy ending.”
– Sophie Cousens
That line in a book by the wonderful Sophie Cousens stopped me in my tracks.
It’s just so succinctly wonderful.
I think all of us can get swept up in where we’re going.
What “successful” career do we aspire to? What family structure do we strive for? What does success look like? And how do we get THERE?
And that focus on the ultimate goal – the “happy ending” – can cause us to end a lot of days in disappointment (“I’m not THERE yet…”).
That fixation on THERE can cause us to miss out on the wonders of the right now.
And it can cause us to perhaps stay in situations we don’t enjoy (for really long periods of time) in the name of accomplishing what we’ve decided “success” looks like (even if we’re miserable for years on end to get THERE).
I absolutely love Cousens’s nudge not to just focus on the single happy ending but on creating happy chapters.
I’m not saying to let go of goals (and I doubt she would either), but don’t get too focused on them at the expense of your present life.
I also so appreciate the implicit acknowledgment that all chapters aren’t happy… or perhaps as “productive” as we’d like (hi, new baby stage… caring for parents stage… first-trimester pregnancy stage… grief stage…).
And that’s okay. They’re just a chapter. And there’s another chapter around the corner. So, be gentle with yourself now and accept whatever chapter you’re in for what it is – soak in baby cuddles. Or conversations with parents. Or naps and a slower pace of life for a bit. Be realistic with what you can do now – and now that it’s not forever. It’s a chapter.
I just had to share Sophie Cousens’ brilliant insight with you and nudge you to think about how it might shift things for you.
Let’s carve out happy chapters without getting overly hung up on what the ending might look like.
If you like nerding out about this stuff like I do, try out my free five-day program, the Reset & Refresh to see if it’s the right fit for you!
