I was recently listening to a sports station that was discussing retired professional athletes. The point of the conversation was that many often become \u201clost\u201d in retirement because the thrill is gone and they don\u2019t know where to turn.<\/p>\n
How could this be? We idolize professional athletes \u2013 As a kid and even as a young adult for me that was the pinnacle for life – the goal \u2013 the point of living. Once it was achieved, happiness was assumed. So how could someone who got there not be happy?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good example of what does and does not sustain long-term happiness\/fulfillment. We have created a society that attaches happiness to things that can be taken away from us \u2013 externalities \u2013 status, wealth and good looks.<\/p>\n
What is inevitable in life, however, is that anything that can be taken away will be taken away. And to the extent we attach our happiness to those things we will in time become disappointed.<\/p>\n
So what about those things that cannot be taken away from us \u2013 integrity, personal-best, hard-work, unrecognized extra effort, kindness to a stranger . . . ? <\/p>\n
Is that where long-term happiness\/fulfillment lies? If so, it\u2019s ironic that those who we idolize as having it all with status, wealth and good looks may have a harder time finding fulfillment. To get to the things that cannot be taken away, they must first get past the things that can. And when they are handed those things so easily, and with the short-term happiness they bring, it\u2019s a very difficult thing to do.<\/p>\n