I think this is the best insight I’ve found on the subject of pursuing happiness.
“Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple – to be happy. Maybe it’s this expectation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to state’s of bliss, the more confused we get – to the point where we don’t recognize ourselves. Instead we just keep smiling – trying to be the happy people we wish we were. Until it eventually hits us, it’s been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar.”
– Grey’s Anatomy
In other words, it’s the journey that counts, not the destination. That used to be my mantra. How could I have forgotten?
More on happiness, I’ve realized that happiness is relative. A piece of chocolate could make an impoverished child out-of-this-world giddy but wouldn’t do squat for a rich spoiled brat. You only learn to appreciate something when you know its value; you appraise it based on where it stands in comparison to something better or worse.
Like some days ago over lunch, some of my colleagues were complaining about our work load and overtime. “It’s always like that in shared service centers,” one of my other colleagues explained. I voiced out my agreement, adding, “This is actually a lot better than where I came from. At least here, at the end of the day, you can go home knowing that you’re done for the day. In my previous jobs, the emails and tasks were never-ending. Even when I was already home, I couldn’t go to sleep because I still thought about them and sometimes I would even work over the weekends.” Two other colleagues, who had previous shared service experience like me, bobbed their heads up and down.
I don’t blame the ones who complain, of course, as overtime is never fun, all the more so when you’ve never had to experience it before. But since I know how much worse it could be, I can appreciate what I have and be happy with it.
And maybe this is why some of the happiest people are the poorest ones – because their expectations are low, so they appreciate everything.
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