Wow, super busy around the office these days. I do like being busy, it makes the days go by faster. Often, though, when I think about that saying it makes me feel disheartened. Because: why do I want the days to go faster? What’s waiting for me after this day has gone by? Aren’t I happy in the here and now? And don’t forget, every day lived brings one a day closer to death. DEATH, people. It’s around the corner. So I try not to use that figure of speech, because in reality I want nothing more than for every day to last a week. However, I do enjoy being useful and productive, a general side effect of busy-ness.

It does beg the question, though: am I happy in the here and now? For the most part I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life. To be truthful about it, part of that has to do with getting older and wiser. Leaving the angsty 20s behind is a giant step towards contentment and personal fulfillment. While in my angsty 20s I often wondered if, when I reached my 30s and beyond, I really would settle down and end the angst. Part of me didn’t believe that would ever happen, most of me assumed that life is hard, and that’s the way it is. Well, life IS hard, but it does get a little easier. And one reason why it gets easier is also another contributing factor to my happiness in the here and now, and that is the accomplishment of certain goals. Goals like furthering ones career and buying property can most definitely make one’s life easier and in the process, increase the happiness quotient. If the quality of one’s life were of a state created by the above factors, wouldn’t time passing swiftly in effect decrease one’s happiness simply by decreasing the time one had left to appreciate that happy life? And/or causing anxiety as one realizes the limited amount of time left? Given that happiness is subject to perception, it’s allowable to admit that the perception of the fast or slow passage of time can alter it, in spite of the reality that time passes at a steady, unchangeable rate.

Part of my musing on the state of happiness has to do with the fact that I am slowly recovering from what was a pretty debaucherous long holiday weekend. A third factor that contributes to my general contentment in life is the high quality of health which I enjoy. (Not to confuse “enjoy” with “come by easily,” but instead “enjoy because I work damn hard at it every day.) Part of the reason why my 20s were so angsty was because I ate horrible food, drank a lot of beer, and eschewed exercise. That might sound like fun, but it pretty much guaranteed that I felt like crap all the time. Eating a healthy diet, drinking very little and exercising every day, to put it plainly, just makes you feel better. A lot better. The downside is that you feel that much worse after a couple days of debauchery, however that’s a small price to pay for the other 90% of the time when you’re on top of the world. It’s one contribution many people who haven’t experienced it tend to downplay, which is too bad because one’s health is the number one aspect of our lives that we have control over, and its benefits can far outweigh the factors outlined above. That old saying that nothing else matters so long as you have your health? True in many ways.

Of course, this whole thesis comes with the caveat that if I were to win millions of dollars in the lottery life would be much, much better.