It certainly did at some degree. Medication doesn't fully alleviate your mood, but it does really help with it. You might need therapy as well as I do.
That's not a small pleasure, tho. I was talking about appreciating sunsets or enjoying your meals. Everyone needs to work, and not only for the money, but for haviving a reason to exist. Most of us would feel miserable without something to do. But that might not be enough to feel purpose.
To me, purpose is to try to tackle a problem in this world, and this world is full with them. It can be as big as the causes some activists do (even if the cause is stupid sometimes), or as small as helping your family survive. What is indeed important, is that a sacrifice must be done. It can be money, time, or other resources. You don't need to fully commit to have your purpose tho. Do whatever you can and able to depending on your situation.
I clicked out of the thread and had to come back in bc your last paragraph there was interesting. I don't think I've heard it put that way before: we constantly talk about or refer to "sacrifice" as something usually extraordinary, unpleasant (and/or it either is or we amp it up to be something noble like a parent taking a bullet for a child; or conversely maybe a parent will resent that they sacrificed their life for a child they didn't want and grew up not to want their parent, either - either way, usually something significant) and usually very costly. "Sacrifice" doesn't usually get applied to day-to-day unless it's deprivation or with a tinge of "bad" to it (sacrifice time for money; sacrifice dignity for the hope of the love of someone who does not care; sacrifice family or friends to get ahead, etc.).
But you're right: "sacrifice" means skin in the game and a willingness to trade the momentary or the undemanding for a longer vision or a challenge.
- It's laying off the tub of ice cream and spending the 10-30 minutes it would have taken to eat it going for a walk or run or struggling through a situp or 3.
- It's really listening and fully engaging in a conversation or discussion with a family member or a work colleague, rather than scrolling the phone they can't see, or nodding along while they do the lifting, or thinking about when you can get back to doing something else/ something easier or just to be left alone.
- It's setting down the phone or closing the browser tab to read a real book, or get organized or get ahead on work due tomorrow, or even just packing your lunch & sweeping the kitchen floor so the morning is less hectic and your environment more pleasant, even though you don't feel like getting off the sofa or pausing the game.
- Or, as you alluded to, it's spending time on trying to improve a societal or familial or similar concern - time you'd otherwise have all for yourself and which you give in support of the larger intention.
It's really choosing to spend time on something more in the distance, less certain, maybe or maybe not thrilling every second - and choosing to heave oneself out of inertia, to be challenged - even to be scared or even hating every second of it (until you realize it wasn't so bad after all, usually). It's choosing to let go of what feels like precious downtime or "me" time or relaxation that you would ordinarily be spending staying home or almost actively avoiding by being deliberately inert, or drinking/ watching/ scrolling to avoid. It's choosing to give up comfort and safety and jealous guarding of your world and self.
Giving up dead or do-little time or expending the most minimal energy doesn't
seem like much of a "sacrifice" - but it really kind of is, especially if you've developed ingrained habits or worry about time/ energy and want to hoard it. Choosing quality over quantity of time is often harder to do than it seems, especially when in the modern world there is absolutely every opportunity to be passive. And though some will say it ceases to be a "sacrifice" if you enjoy it or get more happiness from it, I think it still is, and should be credited that way - because it is always, always easier in the moment to do nothing.
Anyway, I took your word and turned it into an essay.... And I might not even have hit on what you were meaning or thinking, but it spurred some reflection from me that I'm going to contemplate. So thank you!
chop your own wood.
