Did you see that Will Smith movie?
The one where he's a single dad, doing a stockbroking internship?
"Stockbroker?" his wife asks him, a short time before she leaves him, "Not an astronaut?"
He battles his way through a 6 month unpaid internship and single parenthood, even facing homelessness in the process. Incredibly, he is awarded with the job - with his bosses having no knowledge of his hardship, I might add.
"This part of my life...this part is called 'happiness'."

This isn't a blog entry about how an internship can save your life, don't worry.

I want to talk about happiness.

Will Smith's character found happiness in getting the job he wanted. Not so much, I suspect, because he was excited about the challenge or opportunity for personal growth, but more for knowing he could provide his child with a better life. He strived and fought, slept a night in a public bathroom, left work early every day just to make it to the homeless shelter, and finally, it paid off. It'll be quite a while before he starts whingeing about people peeling oranges at their desks.

The pursuit of happiness - a phrase originally appearing in the American Declaration of Independence. It may seem strange to "pursue" an emotion, or a state of mind. Especially as "pursue" sounds to me like I'm trying to get it to go out with me  - I pursue happiness but I don't send it flowers or text it all the time.
But in a society where we spend a third of our lives working (usually in something we would not do for free), another third sleeping and the other third on YouTube, I'm led to believe happiness is something seen as a passive state, something that "happens" to you once everything "falls into place".

LAZY.

You can't just put on a suit, go to work, try not to punch your boss and hope for the best!  I say, PURSUE - everybody grab some hunting gear, let's get out there and hunt this elusive beast!

Talk to me, people. Let's share ideas, because as a nation we consume enough anti-depressants yearly to sink a ship, we complain about everything from the weather to the economy to orange peeling (maybe that one's just me), and we're required by social etiquette to say we're "fine" fifty times a day. ENOUGH! I'm sick of being fine! It's time to be FANTASTIC. So how are we going to do that? Ideas?

I'll start:

     - If you hate your job, quit. Not right away, not before you have a plan, but figure out why you hate it, what you'd rather be doing and how to get there. Don't make excuses - did you see Will Smith making excuses?

    - Treat your colleagues with respect and good manners. Remember those? If you roll your eyes when someone ask you a question, you come off as a ****, they feel stupid, no one wins. If you genuinely are dealing with an idiot, tell your friends and family about it. Give them a laugh. There's no name attached to the story of the guy who asked you where he could download a webcam. Just don't roll your eyes. It's RUDE!

     - Talk about your problems and pain - but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do it in joke form. The truth is, people around you DO want to be bothered with your problems, but (sorry), they want to be entertained as well. That's why they watch TV about people with problems. Talk, be human, be funny. Your problems, your bad luck and your sins...they are what make you interesting.

Any more ideas, guys?

The pursuit of happiness can be an unhappy experience at times...possibly fruitless too.
But I can't think of a better way to spend my time.

Can you?