Happiness GO

Having spent many hours trying to satisfy the completely different needs and wants of multiple people, and come close to losing my mind doing so, I begin to wonder--how much time to we really spend, on a regular basis, doing what we want? The song would tell us "You Can't Always Get What You Want," which may be true, but in any given day, or week, or year, what percentage of our time contains what we want to do, and what percentage is made up of all the have-to's, and others-want-to's, and it-just-happened-that way's?

For many of us, the answer begins with our work. Are we doing what we love, or simply what pays the bills? And within that, are we finding ways to personalize what we do--to make even the most mundane tasks our own? Are we finding friends or satisfaction, even in the surprising places?

Next comes our families. Do we spend more time trying to ensure our kids' and spouses' constant happiness than focusing on our own? Do we put what they'd like to do in a day way ahead of what we'd like to do? And, while working on their happiness, do we find pleasures of our own, either in friendships of our own, or in newfound enjoyment of long forgotten kid activities?

As I tried to make sure that everyone found happiness, I reminded myself that "happy every minute" is not a given, it is a gift. And sometimes, gifts take a bit of work and creativity to find--whether they are for ourselves, or for all the people in our lives we'd like to see happy...