My father read this blog yesterday. His comment: "Sad. Why are you so unhappy at the world?" I can quote that because I immediately wrote it down. I didn't know how to respond. Sure, it was a rough day when the window-replacement-guys came, but other than that I was certain I hadn't spent my blog complaining about being unhappy. Instead, I had been practicing the Art of Happiness.
That's when I realized it--there's a stigma against happiness projects. We're all expected to be happy people, and so there's something terribly wrong with admitting that we're not 100% satisfied with our lives, with admitting that we want to change. It's deviant, and people assume that things must be so bad we should be pitied. My dad's not the only person who's responded this way. People keep asking me what's wrong with my life. I want to yell at them and beat them over the head, there's so much charity in their voices.
How many people in the world are 100% satisfied with their lives? Who doesn't wish for things to be a little different--to weigh a little less, to sleep a little more, to be able appreciate the good and brush off the bad? How many people wake up every day excited about three things that are going to happen? I decided I'm tired of only being 80% happy; of leaving things un-thought, un-said, and un-done in my life. So, I started this project to tie up all the loose ends. I'm not battling major depression here, I'm taking charge of my life.
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