Even with so many people engaged in academic pursuit in my hometown of Seattle, there is still a sizable segment of the population who foregoes postsecondary education and instead jumps headfirst into the world of work. After that giddy, heady feeling of ssucess and affirmation with the first job offer comes the stark reality for many that you actually have to get up when the alarm clock rings, and go in to work when it’s a beautiful, sunny day, even when you don’t want to.

Welcome to adulthood. Nothing gets you there quicker than your first job.

That’s a job; what about a career? Doesn’t the very word career sound so much better, so much happier, than just a job? Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary highlights the difference.

A job is defined as a “piece of work; especially in a small, miscellaneous piece of work undertaken on order at a stated rate.” A job, then is a piece of work, small and miscellaneous. Doesn’t sound very impressive, does it? Career, on the other hand, is something different. Career is defined as “a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life.” Now, that’s more like it.

Career even has the word pursuit in its definition. Surely you’re getting closer to happiness when you have a career.

I wish I could say that a career is a surefire path to happiness. Unfortunately, in my experience, it’s no guarantee. Imagine the difficulty a person faces who, after four years of college, decides their academic path isn’t leading to happiness. Then imagine the difficulty a person faces who, after 25 years in a career decides their career path isn’t leading to happiness. Careers take time, energy, and resources to build, often in greater proportion even to education. The disappointment, then, when a career doesn’t lead to happiness can be devastating. Often it comes at a time when the person has greater obligations and responsbilities than they did while in school.

Jobs, even careers, often come with a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” component. It’s all about what’s happening right now. Supervisors come and go, expectations change, technology changes, and responsibilities change.

I have known far too many people who become so comfortable in their job that they choose to derive their happiness form their careers, only to find, after 20 years with the same company, they wound up with a crystal clock with their name on it, a hearty handshake of thanks, and a pink slip during the next round of downsizing.

With all the changes that take place in a job or in a career, the one change I didn’t mention above is the fact that often people change. As individuals mature and age, they may one day find they have changed slowly over time so that they no longer “fit” the career they’ve chosen.

I heard of one man who spent over 20 years as a social worker, dealing with difficult, troubled, and in-trouble teenagers moving through the criminal justice system. He took up this career right after college and devoted considerable time and energy to it. There came a point, however, when he decided he just couldn’t do it anymore. Criminal justice was his career, but he gave it up because it wasn’t bringing him happiness. Instead, it had become a source of discouragement and despair. The job was the same, but he wasn’t. The demands of the job, which used to excite and motivate him, were now dragging him down, and he found he had to leave that career.

Careers promise a lot, and when they don’t deliver, the results can be anything but happy.

Do you associate work with happiness? If so, how has it delivered and how has it fallen short?

SOURCE: Chapter 1, “Detours On the Road to Happiness,” in Happy for the Rest of Your Life by Dr. Gregory Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc.

I live in the Seattle area, a part of the country with one of the most educated populations per capita of anywhere in the country. According to the United States Census Bureau, almost half of the residents of Seattle over the age of 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree, almost double the national average. As the home of Boeing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Amazon, Starbucks, Costco, Paccar, and many more, the Puget Sound region places a significant emphasis on education and academic achievement. People around here are well educated.

Media will tell you that education is a way to happiness.

If this is so, Seattle and the Puget Sound region should be a happy place to live, with so many of its inhabitants with academic degrees. Think over all the odd bits of trivia you’ve heard about Seattle over the years.

Seattleites have webbed feet because of the rain. People in Seattle have veins filled with coffee. People in the Northwest walk around in wool socks and Birkenstocks.

Isn’t one of them also about Seattle and a high rate of suicide?

Some of that has to do with the weather, and a lot has to do with urban myth, but I will tell you, from personal and professional experience, there are some very unhappy people here. I have had many successful, well-educated people in my office who are also absolutely miserable. A bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, or even a doctorate are not universal guarantees of happiness in life, no matter what the media ads herald, amidst pictures of smiling students and impressive parchments.

The thought is that an education will give you purpose, a direction in life. This direction will lead to happiness. But what if you take all that time and spend all that money, only to learn the direction your education is taking you isn’t a direction you want to go after all?

What if you take all that time and spend all that money and find out, while you think pre-Columbian tribal practices is a fascinating field of study, it’s also an incredibly narrow employment path? 

What if you take all that time and spend all that money only to realize that degree — now that you have it — was really someone else’s dream, not yours?

What if you take all that time and spend all that money and come to realize that the thrill of academic pursuit doesn’t quite prepare you for the mundane realities of the world of work?

If you have pursued education as a road to happiness, where have you hit…and where have you missed?

SOURCE: Chapter 1, “Detours On the Road to Happiness,” in Happy for the Rest of Your Life by Dr. Gregory Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc.

A song, a sound, a movie, a book, a scent, a flower, a city,  a hobby, a taste, a touch, a word. 

These are the sources of happiness I’m asking you to share over the next 30 days.  Well, not so much the source of happiness; more like the inspiraton — experiences that bring you closer to feeling good right here, right now. 

When you share, I’ll send you a free copy of my book, Happy for the Rest of Your Life. Answer every question I ask over the next 30 days, and that’s how many copies I’ll send to your family and friends.

Today’s question: What sound makes you happy, and why?

THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS

This culture has appointed a spokesperson, a go-to person for those seeking to find happiness.

That person’s name is Media.

Media is so prevalent in this culture, its messages about happiness and where and how to find it are everywhere. Media’s message permeates the culture. So, if the information is so prevalent, why is happiness so elusive?

Because Media’s intent is not for you to find happiness. Media’s intent is for you to keep looking.

Just as the ad pitches on late-night television, Media has no problem touting any number of surefire, guaranteed roads to happiness. Once this (you fill in the blank) has been obtained, happiness, you’re told, is sure to follow. Each of these things, like street directions, is intended to guide you in the general vicinity of happiness. The rest, of course, is left up to you.

In my book, Happy for the Rest of Your Life, I’ve written a road map of sorts. Combining the wisdom of the Bible with my own personal examples, I hope to elighten, encourage and motivate you toward happines, revealing:

• Our misconceptions about what happiness is and where to find it
• Dead ends on the road to happiness and how to avoid them
• Why God is really the author of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

For the next several weeks, I’ll be blogging excerpts from this book. If you’d like to follow along, simply subscribe to this blog. However, I would love to send you free copy of the book so you can read it in its entirety. Simply answer today’s question in the comments below:

What sound makes you happy, and why?