Have fun while building!

"Happiness is a journey, not a destination!" Ben Sweetland

This photo was taken somewhere between Kampot and Kep in Cambodia. This awesome girl Eimear and myself rented motorbikes and hit the road through the rural countryside, heading down to the coast. We had to stop when we saw these little fellas. Kids. Innocent. Happy. Curious. Without any prejudices, without a single drop of evil inside them. So pure. So inspirational!

All of my jobs lately relate to children. If I'm not working with them, I make sure I'm surrounded by them. There is nothing like child's love and affection. Unconditional love, sincere smile and approving look, which makes everything so easy. They love you for who you are, not for what you have been or what you'll about to become. There's no past and no future for them. Only present moments. And they fill all these moments with excitment and this enourmous need to have fun all the time! So what went wrong, where!? When did we stop enjoying each single day!? And forgot to smile each single minute?

When I was living in New Zealand I was working as an au pair. Au pair is a french expression for live-in nanny with household duties. The prime task is to take care of a child. Me and 4,5 years old Gracie were having a play hour and were about to build a certain shape out of Legos. But she did exactly the opposite. She was putting together the pieces they were not supposed to be put together. I was getting anxious because I wanted to build a legit shape and teach her how to follow the instructions. But then I just stopped for a while. I observed her and I realised she was having fun with building something random, similar to, well, nothing. But she was having so much fun, she didn't care it was random. I smiled. Sometimes the goal itself doesn't matter, if we're not having fun while achieving it. From time to time we have to throw the instructions away and have little bit of fun. It doesn't matter either we achieve our goal or not, because sometimes having fun while doing it, is a goal itself. 

That helped me a lot back then. I was just learning how to surf in my spare time. My only goal was to go from a longboard to a short stick, to ride big waves and be in the line-up like all the other surfers were. I struggled a lot, falling all the time, getting annoyed because I wasn't getting nowhere. But when I looked it from a different perspective, everything changed. What's the point of surfing, if I'm not enjoying while falling off and while trying to stand up on the board. So I stopped. Not surfing! I stopped trying to "build a shape out of my Legos"  and started to have fun "while building it." After few months I was surfing on a reef in Bali, I did manage to come to the line-up. I'm not surfing on a short stick, but my board did lose few inches in the length. But most of all, I'm having a ball each single time I fall off and get smashed in the waves. I don't want to surf on a short stick and on big waves anymore, I prefer to surf fun waves!

So YES, set your goals HIGH, dream BIG, but don't forget to have fun while walking towards them. Otherwise it's not worth it. "Life is what happens to you while you're bussy making other plans" once John Lennon said. And sometimes the goal itselt will lose it's importance, because the road you'll walk while going towards it, will be so much more exciting and satisfying. I have my goals set high, but if one day I don't end up as a National Geographic journalist, I'm most certantly going to have fun while visiting writting courses around the globe and meeting photographers and journalists. I'm going to have fun while writting and I'll put all my heart in each single article, even if it won't be published in a recognized magazine. I'm going to enjoy in each single shot i'm about to take and enjoy each single research, interview and debate I'm going to share with people. Isn't that what's all about? What actually matters!? To be happy and satisfied with what you're doing? 

Set your goals high, go for them, but who gives a damn about not scoring a goal, if you're having a ball while shooting! 

Happy "building" to y'all!!;))

Mayita