Now, this could be due to a lot of things. Overly high expectations, unwelcome distractions. Maybe you've never had sex before and you're expecting it to blow your mind. (It probably won't.) Maybe you've finally got time to read that novel, but your kids or your spouse or an annoying friend want you to spend it with them instead. (Relationships are at stake here.)
But let's assume that you, lucky you, are both fully focused on enjoyment and fully aware of how much you should expect. Yet the feeling that the pleasure is somehow undeserved lingers, drowning it out over time. That can't be right, can it?
It's probably time to get back to work.
For anyone who has managed to blur the lines between work and play to the degree of doing the same things for both: I salute you. I can't do that. For me, work, no matter how much I enjoy it, is still work. And pleasure, no matter how much 'work' is involved, is still pleasure. That's just the way it goes.
Even as a child I was aware of this. I remember watching a movie marathon - a lot of TV in one sitting, at any rate - around the age of twelve and getting restless after a few hours. So I got up and did some housecleaning. Then I sat down and watched some more, and it was fun again. Because I'd earned it.
That still holds true today. I can't do 'just for fun' things for too long. (Most of my pleasures are sedentary ones. But that includes things like walks in the park too - and not just due to fatigue.) I start getting the nagging feeling that my time could be better spent.
Maybe I have a guilt complex.
But I think this is normal, and even healthy. It seems to me that work and play are simply halves of a whole. What is the whole, you ask? Satisfaction.
Think about it. Each results in an opposing form thereof. One requires time and energy to produce; the other is immediate, but fades with repetition. Exactly what form the reward takes - money, experience, satiation - depends on the circumstance. How satisfied you are depends on your values and preferences. And the combination of the two, productivity and enjoyment, how much you fulfill needs and how much yours are fulfilled, is perhaps the most important element of our emotional well-being.
It's how much you like your life.
Of course, all this is just another way of saying something we've all heard time and again: balance is essential. But I can't help thinking that maybe the key to doing what you love is not needing a balance at all. You simply need to make work and play the same thing.
And again: I can't do that. Take this post, for instance. I enjoy writing. I enjoyed writing it. I am proud of the finished result. But because of all the time and effort I put into it - several hours, if you're wondering - I am still going to classify this as 'work'. What can I say. I've never been one to blur the lines.
But I know it can be done. And maybe that's enough.
So again, to all you special people living your dreams, and to all the others dreaming of living them, like I am:
Now I'm going to go play a video game. I've earned it.
Maybe I have a guilt complex.
But I think this is normal, and even healthy. It seems to me that work and play are simply halves of a whole. What is the whole, you ask? Satisfaction.
Think about it. Each results in an opposing form thereof. One requires time and energy to produce; the other is immediate, but fades with repetition. Exactly what form the reward takes - money, experience, satiation - depends on the circumstance. How satisfied you are depends on your values and preferences. And the combination of the two, productivity and enjoyment, how much you fulfill needs and how much yours are fulfilled, is perhaps the most important element of our emotional well-being.
It's how much you like your life.
Of course, all this is just another way of saying something we've all heard time and again: balance is essential. But I can't help thinking that maybe the key to doing what you love is not needing a balance at all. You simply need to make work and play the same thing.
And again: I can't do that. Take this post, for instance. I enjoy writing. I enjoyed writing it. I am proud of the finished result. But because of all the time and effort I put into it - several hours, if you're wondering - I am still going to classify this as 'work'. What can I say. I've never been one to blur the lines.
But I know it can be done. And maybe that's enough.
So again, to all you special people living your dreams, and to all the others dreaming of living them, like I am:
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| Here's to you. |
Now I'm going to go play a video game. I've earned it.
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