Tuesday, August 27, 2013

And I think you will be happier for the trouble.


I am a big fan of Zen Pencils. It is a site where inspirational quotes from famous people are adapted into cartoons. Gavin Aung Than is the cartoonist who quit his job to pursue his passion, drawing cartoons.
The latest poster he made, was about my favorite cartoonist of all time, Bill Watterson - The creator of the legendary Calvin and Hobbes strip.
(Self Blog Pimp Alert: You can check out my all time fav Calvin comics here)

So the quote the was taken was,
"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement.
In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life,
a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive.
Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success.
Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake.
A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.
To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

I think this is something very important for us to remember.
In this race of life, where everyone is running, some of us trampling all over the others to get ahead, we should not lose focus of happiness. Some might argue that happiness is a good job, good money. If that is what is making us truly happy, then so be it, but I just hope we do not forget to focus on what really matters.
Confusing career with happiness is something that a lot of us do. If we are following our passions and building your careers then I am happy, but otherwise I hope we always remember that having an enviable career is one thing, being a happy person is another.
In this race of life, I hope we do not lose focus on the other, because we are chasing the one.
PS: The poster for this can be found here.

No comments: