Work For Comfort

“The purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference that you lived.” -Leo Rosten

“The world will offer you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” -Pope Benedict XVI

“Everything about a person should be beautiful—her face and clothes, but also her soul and her thoughts. Your stepmother is good-looking, I won’t argue with that…But all she does is eat, sleep, take walks, and enchant people with her beauty. Her life has no purpose. She has no responsibilities, other people do the work for her…that’s how it is, right? And I think a life of leisure is a life wasted.” -Astrov to Sonya in Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (Annie Baker adaptation)

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw

It’s paradoxical but true: the more you seek, ease, pleasure and comfort, the more stress you end up having. Especially when life doesn’t cooperate and all you’re doing is reacting to events and circumstances.

Instead, strive to live purposefully, intentionally, meaningfully. Be thoroughly used up.

When you feel you did your absolute best and gave it everything you could (whether that’s the end of a day or the end of a project), that’s when you’ll feel the most relaxed and comfortable.