Finding Your Happy Place

As you’re reading this, there’s a good chance I’m somewhere between Cleveland and sunshine… headed back to Key West for the fifth year in a row with a crew of GoNaked guys who already know what’s coming.

And one of the reasons this trip keeps pulling me back?

Chris.

Salt Lake Chris, to be exact.

He comes alive the second the plane lands. The scooters? He’s on one before the rest of us have even found our flip-flops. Happy hour? He’s already halfway through a laugh before the first cocktail hits the table. And yeah… sometimes there’s dancing. Sometimes there’s no clothes. Sometimes both.

Here’s the thing that gets me every time…
It’s not just that he’s having fun.
It’s that he’s free.

That One Place Where You Finally Exhale

We all have a version of Chris inside us.
That version that loosens up, drops the armor, stops performing.

But most of us keep him locked up in very specific places.

A beach.
A city.
A person.
A moment.

Key West just happens to be that place for him.

And watching someone step into their happy place like that? It does something to you. It’s contagious. It cracks something open. It makes you wonder…

Where the hell is mine?
And why am I not there more often?

The Dangerous Myth About “Someday”

Here’s where I’m going to poke you a little.

A lot of people treat their happy place like a reward.
Something they earn after enough work, enough stress, enough waiting.

“I’ll go back when things calm down.”
“I’ll get there next year.”
“I just need to get through this first.”

And suddenly… years go by.

Meanwhile, Chris is over here, hopping on a scooter, drink in hand, laughing like the world didn’t just try to chew him up last week.

He doesn’t wait for permission to feel good.

It’s Not About the Place

Key West isn’t magic.
The drinks aren’t that strong.
The sunsets, while stunning, don’t solve your life.

What is magic is what people allow themselves to feel when they get there.

Permission.
Play.
Connection.
A little bit of “I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.”

That’s the real happy place.

The location just gives you an excuse to access it.

So Here’s the Question I Actually Want You to Sit With

Where is your happy place?

Not the one you post about.
Not the one that sounds impressive.
Not the one you think you should say.

The real one.

The place where your shoulders drop without you noticing.
Where your laugh sounds different.
Where your body feels like it belongs to you again.

And then the bigger question…

Why aren’t you there more often?

Drop it in the comments. I want to hear it.

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned watching Chris over the years, it’s this:

Happiness isn’t something you stumble into.
It’s something you return to… on purpose.