Searching for things that don't exist

I enjoy people, especially smart ones.

Paulo Coelho wrote "The Alchemist" and other rather quixotic novels, and he always seems to have a (sometimes annoying) positive message on Twitter. However, I enjoy Mr. Coelho. So do 4.2 million other tweeters. He interviewed Napster founder, early facebook contributor and guy-who-was-played-by-Justin-Timberlake, Sean Parker.

Parker and Coelho discuss facebook, The Social Network and happiness in general. Coelho and Parker ask each other if they are happy. Instead of dishing out some boiler plate bullshit on happiness being the only thing that matters, seeking the light, etc, Coelho says,

"No. I'm never happy... It was not one of my goals to be happy. One of my goals in life was to have challenges. It was to have joy. At the end of the day it was to have fun, which I have and I'm sure you have... in the sense that you and I are never satisfied. We need the next step, the next mountain to climb."

I like this. It's simple to make happiness a goal, but that is like making wellness a goal without focusing on our health.

People like Paulo live in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. I feel like I constantly need challenges as well to attain any state of happiness. I will never surf as good as I think I can. I will never travel to enough places or have enough knowledge of all the things I am passionate about. My career goals are impossible to define and thus impossible to achieve.

I know how to find happiness and simple satisfaction. I am easily pleased, but I am looking for more. I am working toward something I will never get and I don't plan on changing that any time soon.