Happiness is Something Else
We are an exhausted generation. I realize that when I speak with friends, family members and acquaintances: we are all exhausted. Women, yes, very much so, but so are men. Our generation is pushed to live fast, to live it all, to meet goals, to be efficient, to be healthy, to be competent, to be successful, to be happy. Content, always content.
We have to be grateful, always grateful, never entitled, because at least we have a home, at least we have a body, at least we have a child, at least we have two children, at least we have a job, at least we live in peace, at least our fridges are full.
We have to be present, no distractions, but at the same time we are required to work on our network. We should turn our phones off, but we should also be great at managing our social networks and the people we’re virtually connected to, because that will get us where we want to be. We have to know exactly what we want, have opinions, watch and read the news, but we should take care of our mental health and avoid too much exposure. We should be dedicated to our careers and our bodies — not too fat, not too skinny — , but we should make sure we’re dropping the kids off at school and picking them up at the end of the day. We should spend time being parents. Perfect parents — positive, present, correct, confident, patient, mindful, open to external opinions, but locked in our bubbles, sure of what’s best for our families. We should be parents who delegate, find time for our better half and for ourselves, but god forbid we delegate too much, whatever that means.
Exhausted.
Our exhaustion is demanded, because maybe, just maybe, we’ll feel accomplished eventually. Our happiness lives in our exhaustion.
I write this and I feel ridiculous, because I am one who embarks on this rat race, wanting to be everything and everywhere and on most days I’m just exhausted. The only thing I’m sure of is I can do a lot of things, but too often, none of what I really wanted to do.
Too often, I’m just tired.
Happiness, it seems to me, is something else.
