Forget Happiness

Here I (we?!) are on Christmas Eve scurrying to get everything ready for the morning. Things on my late evening to do mostly include activities that will help keep the lore of Santa and his elves alive for my kids while allowing my sick husband to get better before tomorrow when we'll be looking to him to cook our Christmas meal.

My current to do list, which I made before putting my over tired children to sleep. Christmas shouldn't feel like Finals week but here we are.

I’m not sure if you’re up to the same shenanigans l but that is absolutely what I’m doing and I almost forgot that today is Sunday, which means an email in your inbox!

So here’s a quick thought about some thinking I was doing this week while listening to the most recent Tim Ferris podcast episode.

Towards the end of the episode, Andrew Rosener, the interviewee and former Scallop dealer turned website domain broker, shared his thoughts on the concept of happiness. He talked about how pursuing happiness can make us avoid pain and hard work. It can also create a sense of entitlement because society has messaged that we have a right to this at times allusive feeling. 

Leaving my full-time job six years ago to start a business with an unproven model in a neighborhood that never had an ice cream shop while pregnant with my third child has been one of the biggest risks of my life. Growing said business while raising my children (during COVID) and then deciding to add a new mission-focused business to my plate has come with *a lot* of hard work. My reasons for doing it all were not guided by my singular focus of being happy. I made these decisions because I found myself very unhappy with how I was living my life (and not so much the work I was doing). None of the last six years has been easy but, nothing great is. Without a doubt I’d make the same decision again in a heartbeat.

Then he said something that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Anything good comes with pain and hard work. He referenced his marriage. As mothers, we all know that birthing and then raising children is probably the hardest work our bodies and minds will ever do. Being a mother coupled with working outside of our domestic roles is also not for the weary. And yet, how rewarding is it? It’s just so rewarding. 

So, as you all take some time for yourselves during this last week of the year, if you’ve been grappling with how to be happier or you’re wanting to make a change in your life but you’re afraid of how uncomfortable you’ll be with this new way of living, I hope you’re reminded that nothing good comes without pain, effort, and hard work. There is no light without dark and no good times without some bad ones. Be brave. Be bold. And, know that you can accomplish anything you want if you have the vision for it and a commitment to endure.

Until next week.

Your Local Ice Cream Lady and Life/Business Coach,
Petrushka