What is Destination addiction and what impact does it have on our lives?
Many of us know this feeling and can identify with how it feels to be always on the run. Always chasing the next goal or destination and never fully happy in the present moment.
Destination Addiction is a non-stop, repetitive and compulsive behaviour. The compulsive behaviour is driven by a belief that happiness is somewhere else, at the next stop in your life. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, you will never be fully happy where you are right now.
A common indication to find out if you have Destination Addiction, is when you tell yourself and possibly everybody else, that you are “getting there” and that you only need to reach “this next goal”, or get this “next job”, or be in a relationship with “this amazing person”.
You are always looking for happiness over there.
As a result, we are psychologically absent, because we are not fully present. We are always preoccupied with getting through the day, rather than being in the day. Constantly thriving, but never arriving.
We never say to ourselves, “I’ve got there”. It seems like an endless chase.
With Destination Addiction, we are always fast forwarding and living life fast, but are you living it well?
The faster we chase happiness, the longer the chase seems to be. We end up not having enough time to think about what our real purpose is. We are so busy chasing success that we rarely have time to enjoy our lives. And we are looking for love in all the wrong places.
With Destination addiction, you are living in the not-now. We promise ourselves we will live in the now very soon and we will live in the now, once we get there. We are just waiting for a better now.
Every “Now” becomes a passing moment. If we are not careful, our life will pass us by. With Destination Addiction we are always running empty. Everything is about what’s coming next. Even during a well-deserved break, we plan our next break.
In our career, it’s about the next promotion, the next job, the next milestone. Always something “next” and during this period our life is passing us by. Destination addiction really is an addiction. We can’t find satisfaction.
If we don’t enjoy our kids right now, in the moment, with everything that comes with this, like taking time out for them and to be silly with them, then they will soon be teenagers and that opportunity to be in the moment with them will have passed. Destination Addiction can make us feel like we have been robbed of this time with our children, as we barely remember ever being in the moment with them.
The real destination of our life isn’t somewhere else or somewhere we have to get to, it’s about being in the here and now.