I’ll be the first to admit, I can be real #basic sometimes. (Yes, I just used a hashtag in a sentence – it’s 2016!)

For my birthday this year I chose a very expected and normal trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls. (How very Canadian of me.)

OK, that wasn’t actually my first choice. I initially wanted to go to Montreal but alas, my budget was hindered by every American millennial’s problem – student loans. So I didn’t end up eating a bagel from St. Viateur Bagel and wandering around Old Montreal. Despite my initial disappointment however, I’m not embarrassed to say Niagara was incredible.

Travel doesn’t need to be exotic, expensive, or extraordinary. It just needs to be inspirational.

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And let me tell you, the Konzelmann Winery  didn’t just inspire me to buy more peach wine, it inspired me to appreciate the life that I live right now. As I asked my boyfriend to take a million pictures in front of Lake Ontario – which casually rests aside this winery’s grapevines – I finally understood why contentment is more satisfying than happiness. Happiness is fleeting and tied to a single moment, while Contentment is a way of life. It is the backbone of each moment that makes up your life; including the happy and the sad.

Contentment is more satisfying than happiness.

 

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My 25th birthday was a very happy one, but it was also the first time in my life that I felt content in myself, my relationship, and my place at this point on my journey.

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Sometimes, being #basic isn’t so bad.