While I kept writing about my frustration we arrived at the Black Sea. I asked myself, if it’s all my brain doing, why can’t I just turn everything into positive feelings.
I couldn’t really answer the question and I asked myself, what actually makes me happy (besides Klaus, of course). And now that I’m sitting here writing about it, with a view of the turquoise blue “Black Sea”, at 24 degrees and a light breeze, the slightly salty air smelling of seaweed and a cool glass of white wine, I know: this “luxury” makes me happy. But this feeling wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t worked for it. If we hadn’t spent weeks sweating and freezing, dirty and smelly, mastering every kind of impassability.
Now I don’t just talk about happiness, now I feel it. Such a smile inside me.
Of course, I know the expression “Happiness is a choice and not an outcome. Nothing will make you happy but you have to be happy” and there I contradict for myself. Situations make me happy. The turtle carrying Klaus across the road to be safe or the encounters with people who care about us, the breathtaking view of valleys after we’ve had breath-taking climbs and the simplest meals that were probably tastier than a gourmet meal. And then, the Black Sea. I can’t get enough of it. The beach, the waves, the soft, not so salty water. The bath in the sea is the best “shower” we’ve had on the trip so far.
Why does this make me happy?
So much is written and spoken about happiness
The King of Buthans in the 70s said, “Gross national happiness is more important than gross domestic product.”
So really I just want to say, I have arrived. In this happy moment.
And besides empty beaches, I can even enjoy completely crowded tourist beaches, which means that I am warmly welcomed there too. All right, I’ll keep working on my attitude and prejudices.
Heinrich Heine wrote the following line about luck: “It kisses you quickly and flutters away.”