Indeed our lives are not a trudge -- I enjoy a hike through the wilderness! But perhaps others do not, and see it as tiring. For me, the step by step process -- which indeed includes our decisions, our experiences -- is an adventure. You never know what the next bend in the road will show, how it will give a different perspective on the landscape.

And at the end of the day, you are someplace different, and you yourself are different, and that, as you observe, is uplifting.