Happiness

I have fallen off in keeping up with my surmounting nightstand book list. I have a complex where I feel personally obligated to finish a book once I’ve started it, which often results in long stretches of time where I neglect reading entirely to avoid the chore of returning to a book that has long since lost of interest. I got into a rut with Eat. Pray. Love. Once Gilbert left Italy, the book’s excitement and zeal dropped off for me. However, after assigning myself mandatory ten pages per day, I slowly crawled to the back cover. During my final descent, I did regain my appreciation for Gilbert's words and stumbled across some quotes I found powerful and magnetic, especially this one:

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it." - Eat. Pray. Love. (260)

The only thing holding me back while I make my decision of whether or not to leave my job is money. Leaving my job will shatter my attempts at accruing travel money for a long and lavish adventure and also that stability of a growing nest egg.

While money is the means, it is certainly not the ends. My nights and weekends of freedom weren't enough (and often weren't entirely free) to subsidize the disappointment and litany of grievances I suffered from while continuing to work at a job that failed to inspire me. I do enjoy having a little more of cushion to fly to San Diego once a month, and collecting an array of garments to flood my closet and drawers; but no matter how cute my new Michael Kors' heals are, they just don't offer the same satisfaction as landing a job that calls to my passions.