I am on my way home from Argentina. It is always a great experience to travel. For me, I appreciate my home and my life so much more when I travel. I become so much more aware of what I actually have and how great my life is.
I was walking along the Rio de la Plata the other day with my client. We walked in front of La Casa Rosada – Argentina’s White House. It was such a thrilling experience. I mentioned it to my client by saying, “do you know there are a lot of people who dream about walking along the Rio de la Plata and seeing La Casa Rosada and we are lucky enough to be doing it right now.” He said, “that is a strange dream.”
Of course it sounded strange to him because he sees it every day. It is normal to him so it certainly would not be his dream. For me it was an incredibly happy experience. For him it was everyday stuff. I guess I would probably say the same thing about Disneyland. I see it so often that it loses some of its charm.
I started thinking about this a little deeper. I visited my friend once in Sun Valley Idaho and we did a lot of things outdoors. We walked the trails with his dog. We went cross-country and downhill skiing. We went to see the beautiful rivers and I remember thinking that I wished I had the outdoors like that around my house. When I went home, I discovered that I did have the outdoors all around me. I found some great trails to run on and I learned to love my desert and mountain surroundings even more. Spending time in the outdoors in my desert is now one of my favorite things to do. It was always there; I just didn’t realize it because I was dreaming of things far away.
There are too many times when we think happiness will come from something other than what we have. This causes us to think about what we don’t have more than what we do have. Happiness begins at home. I believe that if I cannot be happy at home I most likely will not be happy anywhere. My travels help me put that in perspective. They remind me of all the wonderful things I really have in my life. I do not have the Rio de la Plata or La Casa Rosada in my backyard. Instead, I have the beautiful desert, a beautiful wife and seven beautiful children. I’ll take that any day.
See you on the road!
Andrew Thorn
760-559-3548
athorn@telioscorp.com
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