It’s hard to escape the adage that you should do what makes you happy, or that the goal of life is to pursue happiness. I’ve never really liked that idea, for a lot of reasons. Don’t get me wrong – I like being happy and it’s definitely preferable to being miserable, but I think that the idea that you can be happy all the time is unrealistic, and therefore kind of a pipe dream. Happiness is something that ebbs and flows, and isn’t a measurable thing to shoot for. I also think that both positive and negative emotions are equally important, so long as they are the right emotions. Hatred is obviously not an emotion to strive for, but it would be unhealthy to never be angry or disappointed, because there are great reasons to get angry/disappointed sometimes. So for happiness to be the ultimate goal of your life is just kind of stupid.
Instead, I think it’s better to aim for a sense of Purpose, or Fulfillment, or Connectedness, or Meaning, even if the things that will eventually cause you to feel those things don’t make you happy in the long run. The more I think about it, the more I think this was the biggest underlying reason for me quitting drinking. It might have made me happy for like, an hour or two. Maybe. But over the course of months and years I see all of that time as wasted and think about all of the things that I would rather have spent that time on. I think some people see me as a bit of a workaholic, since I work a lot even in my free time. This is Sunday evening and I have worked on various things for about 7 hours in total today, and am not quite done. But it makes me feel good about myself, and I love to train and get good at things and develop skills. I would rather train BJJ or take Keino for a run than go to a party. And that might make me an outsider, but I’m not worried about what others think of me, because most of those people are broke, or out of shape, or something else that I don’t want to be anyway. Self-discipline makes you free.
Okay, just wanted to get that down while the thought was in my head. Back to work!
Zachary
Iron Sharpens Iron 