I had the great fortune of going through a major life change at the same time as one of my best friends. After I left my job, one of the first things I did was fly to LA to visit her. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made.
I will caveat here, since my prior job was in finance, I know there are a lot of opinions out there that would say the opposite. I had just left my steady income stream and was just starting my own business – surely the money had more logical places to be used. But my approach to life is a little different. I am all for long term planning, but I am also all for living and experiencing life and the world around us. I had never been to California so I not only got to see a new state, I also got to talk through my current situation with a close friend who was needing to do the same.
The week was a great time and was very rejuvenating for both of us. Rachel left her job about a month before, packed up herself and her dog Luna, and drove to LA to start a new life. She understood the need to take a leap of faith and make unconventional choices, which made her the perfect support person through the adjustment.
On the last day of my visit, we went to the beach and on our way back to the car, I caught the glimpse of a card inside the window of a small shop. Rachel and I went inside and I picked up the card that stopped me. Here is a picture of the card:
I fell in love with it immediately. I knew that I stumbled across this card because it was exactly what I needed to hear as I was making major changes in my life. I bought it right up and it has lived on my kitchen wall ever since.
Inside the card, I wrote a reminder to myself – “The journey is the reward.” I have spent so much of my life living in and planning the future because that is where I thought the reward was. I’ll be happy when I have that job, or when I get my PhD, or when I meet that person, etc. But what I realized is that when I was looking so far forward, I was missing everything that was happening around me.
With where I am today, life is very uncomfortable for me. There is not a lot of stability and I am feeling my need for structure. It’s a time that would be very easy for me to wish away. To hope it passes so that I can be on the other side where things are comfortable yet again. 
I decided it was time for me to embrace all of life. The fun and joyful times just as much as the uncomfortable and hard ones. I say this mantra of the journey being the reward every single day. At least ten times. It has kept me appreciating each moment I have and kept me positive when it wasn’t the easiest choice.