Someone I just met shared this quote by Ernest Hemingway with me:
"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
It really clicked with me and kind of sums up how I feel at this point in my life. At first glance it may sound a little pessimistic, but I don't think it's meant to come across that way. Intelligent people are always trying to be and do so many things and they have a picture in their head about what they want or at least how they believe things should be. They are always working toward happiness (or certain goals that they believe will lead to happiness); it's part of their passion for life. They have goal/dream after goal/dream that they think will lead them to happiness. This is when the other quote about life being a journey and not a destination comes into play. The challenge is experiencing the happiness of the journey and celebrating the happiness of the destination. It can be challenging for a lot of people and it's something I know I need to work on.
I see the quote as a challenge:
I dare all you intelligent people out there to truly start experiencing happiness!
I dare you to follow your passion!
I dare you to reach your potential!
I dare you not the settle!
It was also a little thrown off that the person who shared the quote with me seemed to "get me" right from the start. (For those who have seen the move, I compare it to the
Eat, Pray, Love scene where Elizabeth tells David that it's disarming when a complete stranger sees you better than you see yourself.)
