The pursuit of happiness

I was inspired to write this blog after reading a LinkedIn post written by Jake Humphrey.  I read it a few days ago, and have read it a few times since, but today, with it being International Day of Happiness, a day when the Happiness report for 2025 is released, felt like the right time to consider and write my reflections.

The post (link below) highlighted a shift in Jake’s thinking as High Performance, the podcast that he hosts alongside Damian Hughes, has evolved.  He highlights how he started believing that ‘graft, struggle, failing…getting up and keeping going was the only way’ and that this would ‘guarantee happiness’, but how, many episodes later, he has come to realise that ‘I couldn’t have been more wrong’.  Instead, Jake highlights how the enjoyment of the ‘journey’ is what leads to the outcome, but perhaps more importantly, how the outcome does not guarantee happiness, that it will not be ‘the golden bullet to happiness that you think it will be’.

The process can be seen as a necessary struggle, a process that we must go through to get to the end goal, with the finish line being the achievement, what will make us happy. 

But how many times have we heard Olympians speak about the post-medal moments, and how the elation can be short lived.  That after the anthem has finished playing, the flags lowered and the flame extinguished, every day life continues.  The Olympic title remains, etched in the history books, but the feeling that accompanied the crossing of the line, the final blow of the referee’s whistle, the symbol of victory, is a fleeting moment in time.  The part that takes time, that takes an Olympic cycle, that takes many years of dedication, of commitment, of what to others may seem like sacrifice, is the process that it takes to get to there – to get to that start line, that beginning, that moment. 

This was something that also stood out to me when reading Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s autobiography ‘Unbroken’ where all that happens in between competitions may be unseen by the ‘outside world’, but is just as pivotal, as monumental, and how if there is no enjoyment in the process, it can be difficult to enjoy the final moments, the goal, the aim.  Adam Peaty also comes to mind when I think of the High Performance podcast episode that he recorded after the Paris Olympics, and where he reflected on balance and the power of life outside of the sport and finding happiness in this and not just in results in the swimming pool.

So, you might be thinking ‘why is this relevant to me?  I’m not an Olympian’. 

All of us, at some point, will experience moments of unhappiness, of questioning things within our lives, of identifying things that could be different, that would change how we feel if we had them, that would make us feel happy.  I think it is a natural thing, and I also think that there are times when a change, or something concrete, can create this, can lead to change, but there are also times when the achievement isn’t the catalyst for change; it won’t change anything.

But what about the process?  What about if we found moments of happiness, glimmers of joy, along the way?  If we took some form of delight in the walk, in the climb, making reaching the summit the icing on the cake, rather than the whole cake.

Or what about if we found enjoyment, happiness, joy, in both?  In the process as well as the result?

Richard E.Grant talks about finding pocketful’s of happiness in each day, something that has guided him through grief, and this perhaps encapsulates the above.  Finding a moment of happiness in each day, no matter the size, as a way of putting one foot in front of the other, but a constant reminder, an anchoring, to finding happiness in the everyday, in life, rather than in specific moments or achievements.

I remember undertaking an exercise as part of my counselling training where we looked at images and questions that went alongside them.  The image and questions that I considered, were about this very point.  Did we tend to focus on the journey or the destination?  Where did we place our importance?

I realised that I focused on the outcome, whether that be a medal at the end of a run/race, finishing a hike rather than the beauty along the way, or getting a weight PB rather than the progression.  The journey to get to the end result was almost a ‘necessary triviality’, something that had to be done to just get to the outcome.  I didn’t think of it as being part of it all, the larger part.  I didn’t realise the parts that I was missing when I focused on reaching the summit, rather than taking in the views along the way, or of the things I might see if I stopped to pause on a run, rather than focusing on the total distance needing to be completed. 

I have since tried to change this, shifting my focus, taking it all in rather than just the final part, the destination.  But it isn’t always easy. 

I still like the ‘bling’ of a medal that accompanies finishing a challenge or run.

I still like ticking things off the miles on a walk.

But I have a greater appreciation for the process as a whole.  There is joy in all of it, rather than just the pinnacle, the outcome.

So today, why not ask yourself - how do you define happiness?

Do you think of the outcome, not focusing on the process or path to get there?  Or do you find enjoyment in it all?

What would happen if instead of focusing on the end result, or something particular, you found moments of happiness amongst it, even if a single pocketful?  Changing the focus to little moments scattered throughout the day, as well as the larger, more substantial moments or achievements.

If you could put all these little moments of happiness into a jar, what would it look like?  Imagine each moment as a firefly, as little glowing ball of light. 

What would create more light – lots of little, individual, sparks, or one big, single, ball?

What would feel more beautiful?

Perhaps that’s how we need to think of happiness, and our search for it. 

Instead of focusing on the end, on forever reaching for it, look for those moments that are all around us.

Reach for what is already there, rather than always being in pursuit. 

Or have a balance of both.

But above all, enjoy the process, the path. 

Take in the views, enjoy the walk, and then marvel at reaching the summit.

That’s the true pursuit of happiness.

Post references:

·       https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jakehumphreyofficial_i-have-a-confession-about-high-performance-activity-7304773037294256130-NLkQ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFgD588BvIkRp4obFPQck0WLDPngTnY_tss

·       Katarina Johnson-Thompson (2024) ‘Unbroken’; Macmillan

·       Adam Peaty: Overcoming my Darkest Moment, Nearly Quitting Swimming & Learning from Gordon Ramsey on ‘High Performance’, E318, 6.1.25

·       Richard E.Grant: Losing the Love of My Life & Growing up with an Alcoholic from ‘Begin Again’, 20.2.25