And so it begins.....

Ahh, a place for discourse on the meanderings of the day and the meaning of life....

Today's thoughts are on work -- do the ends really justify the means? It continues to amaze me how many people, including myself, are so miserable with what they do as an occupation. What I struggle with more is the inability to change or move forward with something more desirable. The older I get, the more I realize how inconsequential 'things' are in life. Take an inventory of your possessions, but with the following caveat: place a star on those possessions that bring you happiness. Not 100% of the inventory, is it? Now take those items you were bold enough to give a star, and ask yourself why they make you happy. Don't be shocked when more than half of the items fall into the category of 'life avoidance' [yes, that begins with your TV, video games, etc.]. So we slave away at work to pay for things that try to make us forget how much our life sucks? Hamsters on wheels everywhere are laughing, I am sure....

So does this mean we should all up and quit? Or, like me, do you have people other than yourself who depend on you and that income you hate to produce? And what are the implications there? I spend an enormous amount of time fighting a latent anger being trapped and having to provide for a family that does not recognize this 'sacrifice' I am making for them. Is that fair? Of course not -- much like the petulant teen crying 'I didn't ask to be born', my family certainly isn't putting a gun to my head and sending me to work [although somedays, I'd swear I felt a knife at my back...].

What's my point? I think I'm making a great effort and finding the excuses each and every one of us makes to drive ourselves crazy at jobs we do not enjoy. It creates a vicious cycle -- it is that cycle that I am trying to find ways to break. First and foremost, it goes back to the concept of happiness and satisfaction -- what actually works for people? I'm on a search to find truly happy people -- I need to know what makes them tick. And that's excluding the medicated, infirm, etc. -- ignorance may be bliss but I prefer not to seek a lobotomy as the path to happiness. In the next couple of posts, I'm going to try and dig deeper into that concept of happiness -- at the root of it, I believe that most people are too afraid to actually step out and do what makes themselves truly happy [including myself]. My hope is to figure out why and break the cycle. More to follow -- who knows where this may go....