My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh — anything but work.
— Abraham Lincoln
Honest Abe tells it like it is, I would guess, for many of us. Love work or hate it, we have to do it.
But so many of us live for the weekends. We face Blue Monday. We say T.G.I.F. We see work as a necessary evil. It's very easy to be negative when it comes to work, but that negativity can wear us down and we accumulate a lot of depressing energy over the years. Before we know it, it's become our dominant attitude toward life.
So even though there are some things we cannot change, and even though work, or aspects of it, could well remain something we don't particularly like, and even though we might not easily change work. . . .
Is it possible for me to put emphasis on the positive and ask myself how to find affirmative aspects of work to focus on?
Are there people with whom I work that I like, whom I look forward to being with?
Can I bring what I enjoy to my work? (Lincoln would — and did — bring storytelling and joke-cracking to his work.)
What part of my work is most fulfilling to me? When do I feel that I am of the most value or performing a task I enjoy?
Who benefits from my work, even remotely? How can I keep them in mind as I go about my job? Where do I find joy in my work?
Whether the answers come quickly and easily, or slowly and with difficulty, continue to seek them. Life is too short and wonderful to allow work to ruin it. Or maybe you agree with Ronald Reagan: "They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance."
— David Kundtz in Quiet Mind