Blog Post: Love Your Work, Be Happy! Seriously, Even Now?

Ok - 3 times in less than 24 hours now, I have had people  tell me there is no other way to live other than loving what you spend most of your life doing. In other words: Love Your Work and Be Happy.

How can people realistically be thinking like this when we are in a recession? Shouldn't you just take any job you possibly can get your hands on right now? I mean, there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.

I certainly know all about this firsthand. I was a single mother, raising a son on my own, working anywhere from 3 -5 jobs at one time. I know what it's like. Not much has changed for me now that my son is grown and on his own. I work hard because I love my work.

Last night, I grabbed a quick bite with some friends and one of my friends said to me: "I have never worked harder in my life and I have never been happier in my life. I just started my own business working with seniors and helping them move from their homes on to their next phase in life. It's the most rewarding work I can think of at this point in my life."

Then, I went home and at 11:25PM EST, the phone rings. I answer and this is what I hear on the other end: "I am not making a lot of money and it may take some time until I do, but I have never been happier. I know I will make the money as I work harder and harder and keep loving what I do even more and more. Then I won't have to sleep on my friend's couch anymore!"

This morning, Saturday morning, one of my career coaching clients, called to thank me for some advice I had shared with her yesterday and said: "Now that I have made the decision to love the work I do, I feel the happiest I have ever felt in my life!".

So - is there is something to this thought process that is hitting all generations, all professions, all sectors of society, in all parts of the country: Love Your Work and Be Happy?

Go out there and find what you love to do, apply for funding to go back to school, learn a new trade or to reinvent yourself, start your own business and be happy. Life is too short to not be!

What are your thoughts?

By the way: There are jobs out there! A survey of South Florida companies was recently released by Manpower Inc. stating that 8% of employers are going to increase payroll in the last quarter of this year.