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Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

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Re: Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

#33

Post by jti107 »

1. take a vacation to a third world country...i've found it enormously helpful to see the world from outside of the western bubble. it helped me to appreciate what i had and to be grateful.

2. find a hobby or something you're interested in and master it. then teach other people about it.

Re: Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

#35

Post by gffrd »

Contentment doesn't come externally: you summit one mountain, only to see others in the distance. Once you've climbed the tallest, what do you conquer next?

You're at the top of a mountain. You're in a great place. You can feel proud of this.

You now get to choose a new thing(s!) to conquer … as others have mentioned, maybe it's getting involved in an organization you believe in, maybe it's starting a project, heck maybe it's making pottery every day.

The feeling of satisfaction/"enough" is important to feel: you're becoming aware that you have more ambition/ability in the tank … but don't let it boss you around: use it to apply your attention to something you care about.

There's an unlimited amount of "more" to want. You'll never be satisfied with it. It's not about "settling down" … it's just that you've "solved" one part of your life well enough to be able to not worry about it for a while.

Re: Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

#36

Post by neogodless »

You have assumed a strong association with things you've acquired or achieved with your source of satisfaction with life.

You achieved the job and relationships you want, and you expect that to "take care of" your happiness.

You'll have to unlearn this. It certainly doesn't hurt. In fact, it really sets you up to have all the resources you need to learn what really does satisfy you in life. You have the needs met, and the support group you care about, and that cares about you.

But there's always new projects to try, new skills to develop, new areas of knowledge to learn.

Try things, and see if they give you short-term joy and longer term satisfaction. See if there are activities you're happy to do over and over, so that you're not bound to the rewards of novelty. See if certain active hobbies require a long time to master, and if you enjoy that process.

Re: Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

#37

Post by skilled »

Have you tried taking risks in life? Sounds like you enjoy being left to your own devices, so why not try solo travel in a remote region? South America and places in Southeast Asia can be really fun to do alone.

You might even end up in situations which will untangle you from work or as you call it "the perfect job", and I can say from experience it is extremely liberating.

And you will meet a lot of people along the way, too.

This sounds like the perfect solution for you also as you said you work from home.

Re: Tell HN: I have the perfect job, why is it not enough?

#38

Post by kuramitropolis »

aqme28 wrote: post #17

This makes me think of Anthony Bourdain, the man who had probably the most envied job in the world, but still suffered from depression and took his own life. A perfect job does not prevent or cure depression.

Nice turn of phrase.

>A former user of cocaine, heroin, and LSD, Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential of his experience in a SoHo restaurant in 1981, where he and his friends were often high. Bourdain said drugs influenced his decisions, and that he sent a busboy to Alphabet City to obtain cannabis, methaqualone, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, secobarbital, tuinal, amphetamine, codeine, and heroin.[125]

Well, a complex enough person, he was.

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