Happy Chappy

Here I am doing other things and not even thinking about an email coming through from James Clear.  And there it is.  He did say something in it (actually a few things) that got me thinking. 
It was not so much a quote that got to me, but something said as a preamble. “French writer and poet Rene Daumal reminds us that it's not about what we achieve, but who we become in the process”
I do like that. Ok I can understand those who say it is better to be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy.
Yet I ask myself, “why be unhappy?”  It is too easy to focus on the getting of wealth and forgetting it is who I become in the getting of wealth that counts.  I reckon the getting of wealth is not the principle thing.  That does not dismiss the need to care and provide.  Yet to me even that may be a waste of time for me if I am unhappy in the process.
Unhappiness affects relationships.  I hear regularly about people that pursued wealth at the expense of those closest to them.  In the end it often causes a parting of the ways.  It can take seemingly no time or years.  But the drifting apart means questions are asked.  It seems to me a chief one is “am I getting value for money?”  In other words, is the satisfaction of being financially secure worth not knowing love and togetherness?
Tough question but as I know I have stated before, there are those who abandon what they think will make them happy for what really will make them happy.
One of the things these days is people seem to be self-focused.  Yet I think there is a time to be self-focused not at the expense of others.
I need to determine what is right for me and pursue that.  I am reminded of a song I love that says in talking about things, “some things we must defend with everything we’ve got.  Some things don’t matter much at all.”  I reckon what matters is my happiness because those around so often reflect those they are with.
Happiness can be contagious.