I was having a heart-to-heart with The Mister Sunday night about my fears and worries and general malaise lately. By “heart-to-heart” I mean he’d listen for a long time and then wait for an opening to tell me I worry too much and place too much emphasis on being happy. Fair enough. But when I was talking about how I’m feeling unfulfilled with my work lately (and I almost cringe to type that on the work computer), he had a mind blowing comment for me.
“It’s work–no one is happy all the time.”
Is that true? Is there no one out there that can be content 100% or even 90% of the time at work? I guess for the longest time I’ve been laboring under the undeniably lofty perspective that people should do things that make them happy for a living. Was I wrong? I know Mr. CVD told me the same thing prior that week, but he’s at least as pessimistic as I am, if not moreso, and I didn’t know whether to chalk it up to the truth or to a bad day.
I feel as if I’ve undergone a paradigm shift trying to incorporate this into my life. I sat there on our bed trying to contemplate a life wherein I decide to forgo happiness for financial security. Some people are capable of this, for sure. I am pretty certain that I’m not that strong.
So I took a deep breath and responded.
“If everyone is miserable 85% of the time, why do we even bother?”
He didn’t have an answer. At least he left that conversation as nonplussed as I was. That, in and of itself, may be the victory to be had here.