I am baffled by how much happier they seem than a lot of financially successful people that I know. These people have helped me realize I should analyze and perhaps reevaluate my understanding of happiness and prosperity.
"Kiddos! Instead of going to (insert typical vacation spot) we are going to a town near Del Rio called Comstock!" What kind of gardening tool is a Comstock?
A few days before our vacation my mom took us to buy a few typical vacationing necessities and hiking boots. Hiking boots? Being a little kid in the
Information Age, I whined at the thought of being outdoors or anywhere away from my computer and video game consoles. I was not looking forward to any of that. The drive over to Comstock seemed never-ending. Looking out the window, I noticed that the environment was becoming increasingly rural. A few miles before arriving at the cabin we would be staying at, we stopped at a tiny restaurant called J&J Holley's Place for dinner. It was difficult to believe that anyone could possibly be happy living in such an isolated place, but the family that runs and lives in this restaurant showed me otherwise. Jim Holley, his daughter Julie Holley, and her two sons Chase and Carson were the …show more content…
Chase and Carson, however, were very appreciative of what they had. They expressed more appreciation to few material belongings than my brother and I did to plenty. I realized that these two boys are happier because they know what they have. They know what brings happiness. From that point, I began to make more of an effort to be appreciative of my belongings and the people in my life in attempt to be a happier person.
You would expect that from living in such an isolated place, these boys would be significantly less outspoken and extroverted than they were. Conversations with them were so much more intimate than most of the conversations I have had with people from my hometown. These were the kinds of boys who could breeze through a job interview and succeed, with little consideration given to their credentials. The way they made me feel when talking to me helped me realize that people skills are an extremely valuable component when it comes to success and subsequently happiness.
After meeting them my family and I proceeded to go hiking, which was the time I spent reflecting on the family as well as my understanding of happiness and success. Over the course of years, public education had trained me to