It Is What It Is

I only think I'm a drone. This guy really is!

Hands up, everyone who is doing what they love!

Ah. Me, neither.

I suspect it’s been so for most people for millennia. Despite what self-help coaches say, circumstances are not so easily changed. Those who manage to improve their status or acquire their dream job/home/mate etc. more often discover a new set of args that differ but are no less, er, arguous than the args they were trying to escape. No one is happy all the time. And you know why?

Life is meant to be a challenge. Without adversity, there is no growth, no progress, and no awareness of the truly sublime. I refer not to society as a group, but to the individual, to each unique spirit in whatever role is being played this time out. The real challenge is to find peace whether or not you love what you’re doing. That’s not to say you must be content with what you have—by all means, reach for that dream. I hope you attain it. But happiness can happen any time, anywhere, in any condition.

Conversely, so can unhappiness.

The choice is yours.

I suppose I could dump my government job and step off the cliff in pursuit of a writing career, but I kinda like the regular paycheque and—given the amount of dental work I’ve had of late—the accompanying benefits. Decision made. I accept that the gov’t job ain’t my bliss, but it doesn’t have to be my life, either. Sometimes it is, or seems to be, and that’s when awareness kicks in. I can let it rule me, or I can rule it. Life itself is neutral. How I perceive it determines how I feel about it. I’m okay with hating it now and then; as I say, without contrast, boredom would kill me. But it is what it is, so it’s really up to me. Whenever possible, in whatever circumstance, wherever I find myself, my conscious choice is to find peace/happiness/contentment.

Why choose anything else?