92. Adulting

A personal reflection I had recently:

As adults, we often face tasks that we need to do. We may need to do it for our jobs, health, or families. It seems the need-to-do activities increasingly outweigh the desired activities but this perspective may be wrong.

Yes, you don’t get to decide what you need to do. By definition, it has been decided for you. I know you don’t like that. You want to be in control of what you do. You don’t enjoy being or feeling forced to do anything. Of course, you get to decide whether you do it and will accept the consequences thereof. But you also get to choose if you will have fun doing this activity. You get to determine if you will do it in a way you love and connect with. You get to select the meaning this activity is imbued with. This may take more time than you have sometimes, and that is okay because you can just get it over with, but when the opportunity is available why not make the most of it? This is what I think growing up is about.

It is about realizing that fun and meaning are not properties of the action required but a way of thinking by the mind performing it.

It takes creativity to transform a seemingly unfun and meaningless activity into something that draws you in. I believe the key to unbounded wealth is the ability to transform suffering into joy. This is what I think willpower and self-discipline are about. It is an openness to the possibilities of fun and meaning in everything.

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
― Roald Dahl