Last Friday, I committed to a week of test-driving one of the rules from Julia Child Rules by Karen Karbo: Live Like Julia. I chose Rule #6: To Be Happy, Work Hard. Today, I finally had the sort of day that I imagined when I commenced the week. I spent hours on my project, sunk so deeply in the work that I was barely aware of the passage of time. And, yes, this made me very happy.
As Karen Karbo says:
Throwing ourselves into hard work can be deeply gratifying, and mastering a skill is a satisfaction in and of itself, but the reality of this has largely fallen out of favor. p. 136
I encourage everyone to find a project to complete or a skill to master, because none of the things that our society calls fun are any where near as pleasing as an adventure of one’s own making. Consuming stuff, whether material goods or the output from the screens in our lives, doesn’t make us as happy as the act of creation. One of the best parts of finding a project that makes me happy is that I get to work hard on it again tomorrow.
What project, skill, or adventure are you ready to launch?
