How is happiness a moment, not a timeline?

As I reflect back on 2022, I am reminded of summer 2019. I was living in West Virginia at the time, and I had just quit the best job I had ever had up to that point. I was a tenure-track English instructor at West Virginia University's sister college in Keyser, West Virginia. I was moving back to North Dakota because I wanted to be around family. My marriage was over, and I was trying my best to find a new job somewhere near my hometown of Dickinson, North Dakota. Thankfully, I had family to live with when I returned to North Dakota. Fast-forward three years, and the blessings in my life have more than tripled. I have been welcomed into a family. I love each one of them dearly. After a year of being with these extraordinary people, I can confirm that it is the little moments with them that mean the most. It is also the grand adventures I get to go on with them. I am eternally grateful for 2022. I would not trade a single minute from this year to relive any moment before. What I offer from my experience of going from my lowest point to my highest point is that people need to see happiness as a moment. Embrace every minute of every day. Stop thinking you can have happiness forever. When a person fights for happiness daily, that person is far more likely to endure any up and down. Real joy is always a moment away. One might find that joy in a Church service, chess match, or great restaurant.