Happiness Is A Tricky Thing.
I was recently struck with on odd realization when I heard someone mention they needed to work for happiness, On the TV that is. And while I listened and engaged in this listening of the conversation the other party involved in the TV conversation said that this is a contradiction of terms, this “Working To Be Happy”. And I wondered about this.
Questioning the validity of the point, must we work to be happy, in relationships, in life, in our careers, is this a truth, that we contradict the very meaning of happiness by engaging in things that perhaps are not worth engaging in? Must we try to influence ourselves and others around us as to attempt a little joy? And this becomes the work. I further questioned the value of having to work at something so hard, a relationship, a job, a goal. Indeed, we must work hard in all things to get the best results, but what I am questioning here is if the end result we are wishing for is happiness, shouldn’t it come naturally and with joy, as to not have to label it as “working to be happy”.
And at what point do those things that require us to “work to be happy” become worth pursuing and overbear us to give up?
Sometimes it feels like i am a tightrope walker, in a circus,
with hundreds of people looking on from the crowd. Watching to see if i will fall... 
Good point Vincent, there are for sure things we must endure even if we wish not too. I wonder what this meaning in a relational sense to our lives and if it should be difficult or needing to be endured.
I’m in no doubt that there is too much of a work ethic in the West. It’s somehow woven into our culture to overproduce. The story about the businessman and the Mexican fisherman puts things into a better proportion.