The topic for this month, for our newsletter and blogs, is “Lifting the Pandemic Curtain.” During the pandemic, it was as if much activity—business and even life—was occurring behind a curtain, and we couldn’t tell exactly what was happening. Now that the curtain has lifted—much like in The Wizard of Oz—we can see what’s going on.
One factor that wasn’t necessarily visible throughout the pandemic was the definition of happiness, which became rather murky during this time. Suddenly happiness was defined as obtaining free money—as with stimulus payments—without having to work. Is that a true definition of happiness?
Similar Definitions
For many years prior to the pandemic, the proposal to bring less than a 40-hour work week into law would surface from time to time. Another way it was discussed was the implementation of a 4-day work week.
Since the pandemic ended, these discussions have risen again in earnest, probably due to the fact that, with stimulus payments, many people took off work for as long as possible. This even created an environment in which companies were hard-pressed to find and hire qualified staff because so many were unwilling to have jobs.
The apparent faulty reasoning behind such schools of thought is the idea that what makes people happy is working less and not having to work. Such logic has made its way deeply into the culture with phrases such as “Don’t work so hard” and “Man, I could really use a long vacay!” Some look more forward to their time off work, and then eventual retirement, than they do a working life.
What is the Source of Happiness, Really?
Is it really true that happiness comes from not having to work?
No, it is not. It will be found by observation and looking back on your own life, that happiness comes about from getting something done, from achieving results. This is so true that often people become quite depressed after retirement because they’re no longer achieving results. Others refuse to retire because they don’t want to give up that happiness.
The fact that happiness comes from the achievement of results can be seen in children. They’re most happy when they achieve results, either in school or in their lives.
Conversely, kids are unhappy and tend to get into trouble to the degree that they’re not producing results. Look into the lives of kids that get into crime and become delinquent and you’ll find those who aren’t producing results. Many of these spend endless hours playing video games or anything except achieving a result. Parents even contribute to this condition by not allowing children to help from an early age, not wanting them underfoot, when it’s a child’s natural tendency at an early age to want to help and be a valuable contributing member of the family.
The Curtain Has Lifted
Now that the pandemic curtain has lifted, and stimulus payments are no longer being made to individuals and companies, we can clearly see, if we bother to look, that happiness is actually defined by getting things done and achieving results.
Let’s all get to work, and raise the level of happiness in society!
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