Happiness…blah blah blah – by Arnie Wohlgemut
“You can never outperform your own self-image.” Maxwell Maltz
When we were children, the likelihood that we were happy was much greater. We would play with our toys, with games and our neighbourhood friends for hours.
As we got older, expectations were added to our everyday life such as good grades, choosing better friends, and selecting a career path.
How many of us were encouraged to find a well-paying job with a title? The pressure may not only have come from family but also our peers. The pursuit of success, measured by salary and job title, does not consider the effect it has on our mindset.
I was fortunate. My parents encouraged us to find a career that we could naturally succeed in. They wanted us to have a better start in life than they did after WWII.
Somehow, they knew, that starting out in a career, that naturally fit our adolescent abilities, would open doors for us to find our real purpose in life. The goal was to have us strive for something, knowing it may be tweaked along the way.
“Purpose is not about achieving an objective – it is more of a way of life. Purpose is rooted in emotion, it’s enduring, and firm.” – Paul Dupuis and Marshall Goldsmith
Early in my working career, I spent time working in various production facilities as an electrician. I would often wonder as I looked around the plant, why someone would willingly work a metal stamping press for over 20 years.
Many years later it occurred to me that these hard-working folks had no intention in finding happiness at work! The paycheck provided them with the means to live their life the way they wanted, and to create the happiness that best suited their lifestyle.
It was easy to turn off work at the exit door – what a luxury. The job paid for their car, house, cottage and in some cases other luxuries like boats.
“We cannot poison the well and then complain about the water.” – Steven Furtick
As with many things, we learn from those around us. Finding a way to be thankful and happy in many of life’s situations was not usually one of them.
We spend too much time comparing ourselves to others or striving to be perfect. Then, when we fail to meet that mark, we poison the water with the fear that we are never good enough.
Perfectionism is rooted in fear, writes leadership expert Sally Helgesen. This fear spurs us to focus on our energies on checking all the boxes and rigorously avoiding even the possibility of mistakes.
I am not saying we should not be trying to do the best we can in every situation and try to improve our skills and abilities – but not at the cost of your happiness or the realization of our life’s purpose.
Fortunately, there are also many people who are happy. They have chosen to be happy despite what is happening around them. Even through the pandemic.
Are you one of them?
“There is no need to keep your happiness secret, suppress it, or bury it under complaints and outrage,” writes Arthur C. Brooks in an article for The Atlantic. “And if the state of the world, has you genuinely down in the dumps, remember that finding and spreading cheer in an imperfect world, will make life better for you, and make your efforts at progress that much more effective.”
Start today, spread some cheer, a kind word, or a helping hand. The world needs people like you to show the way.
You must be logged in to post a comment.