Destination Addiction: 5 signs you’re a victim.

Have you ever felt like you’re in a race where you’re running but never reaching the finish line?

Perhaps you consider yourself a go-getter, and you always have a goal before you. It could be a financial, relationship or career goal. You hop from one plan to the next because you feel the next goal will give you the fulfilment or happiness you crave.

However, the problem is that when you crush one goal, that feeling of fulfilment does not fill you as much as you thought it will. But you don’t take a break; the next one will bring that happiness — or that’s what you believe.

If you live like this, you may be struggling with “Destination Addiction.” What is it?

Destination Addiction is the belief that what we want is in the future. As a result, we are constantly pursuing something -which is the same as being in survival mode.

Here are five signs you are a victim of destination addiction.

1. You are always thinking, planning and analyzing. Sometimes, it feels like your mind is still at work even when sleeping.
2. When you accomplish one goal, you are on to the next. It feels like you cannot take a break, and there is always something else even before the last one finishes.
3. You forget your small wins/ victories. You hardly pause to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. It seems the significance of your accomplishments diminishes once you achieve a goal.
4. You never have time. No time for yourself, your loved ones or time to do the things you love. For you, there are only 12 hours in a day -or less- and so it feels like you’re always playing “catch up”.
5. You believe success, happiness or fulfilment is a destination. Therefore, you are constantly chasing after these things and setting goals to achieve them -it is what keeps you up at night.

Aside from the fact that it keeps us in a constant state of stress and burnout, destination addiction holds us back from truly living. A life spent in continuous pursuit is a life “spent” not enjoyed or invested.

Destination addiction keeps us from truly experiencing the moments that matter. These could be time with our loved ones or those everyday blessings we often take for granted when we are too busy chasing something we believe will make us happy.

How many men have lain on their death beds and regretted not spending enough time with those who cared for them?

How often have we bitten our lips in regrets because we did not pay enough attention to people -and things- that mattered to us until it was too late?

Have you ever taken a vacation, but you can’t remember the details of the experience because your mind was fixated on other things like work, money, etc.?

We chase the things we believe will make us happy but ignore the ones available to us at the moment that can give us inexplicable joy.

You can experience joy by simply watching the sunset or the water on the beach run through your feet.

Your joy may be tied to the laughter in that baby’s eyes or the feeling of warmth from your friend’s bear hug. But we miss these things because we feel the answer is in the pursuit of an imagined finish line.

I don’t believe in the pursuit of happiness because it is an exercise in futility. I believe that all the joy and satisfaction we need is right here and right now for the taking if we want it.