ratcheting up

I don't know if it's just me but I think people are a bit on edge these days (me included).

There is just so much pressure. Christmas shopping, social obligations, family obligations - don't even get me started on work stuff....

I don't think it's just me though. People seem to be looking for a good reason to launch off on ya. But it doesn't end there.

I think a lot of people are pretty unhappy out there and when they have a totally justifiable reason to be indignant about something, you might just get all of it dumped on you.

I even understand it. Most of the time I think people feel pretty powerless. I know I do a good chunk of the time. After you take care of all the necessary shit in your life that really NEEDS to be taken care of, there just doesn't seem to be that much for YOU. I remember Rebecca's (the queen of doom herself - Hi Rebecca!) blog saying how she missed fun. Well, where in all that is there is room for fun?

And I wonder if that is a realistic expectation in the first place. And it really turns on that doesn't it? Everybody I know works pretty hard, because that's how you support this American dream thing, right? And, ya know, I'm pretty happy most of the time, but I guess I don't have what most people describe as 'fun'.

I know a couple guys that just do whatever they want, ya know, go out with the guys, do bar softball leagues, bowling and that's all good. My son-in-law plays hockey. But it's not a negotiable thing. He DESERVES to do it. Really, that's his attitude. It's not like, well, if we have some extra money, you can play in the league. And the justification is that he works hard, blah, blah, blah, he should be able to have fun. But what if you don't have the money? Do you still do it?

Most people I know, well yeah, they do. Because we've been led to believe that that's owed to us some how. So either we dig ourselves a bigger hole, or end up disappointed (and NOT happy). Two excellent choices there!

Look at the mortgage mess, sure the lenders were completely irresponsible - predatory even (the bastards). But people signed on the dotted line on huge open-ended commitments that simple math couldn't support. And I suspect a large cross-section of these well intentioned people (the borrowers, not the loan sharks) were just trying to get what they had developed a sense of entitlement for.

And I'm curious to know where that comes from. I mean, where/when did we buy into that (myself included)? I sincerely doubt the people that carved this nation out of wilderness had a ton of fun - or any real expectation of it.

So I try to be pretty careful these days what I get righteously indignant about. A lot of the time I think I might be biting off on something that was sold to me as truth and really could be something else entirely.

I'm ok with trading 'fun' for a sense of accomplishment and contentment, because to a great extent, I think that's what I've done. But it rarely looks like the world I see on TV.

I suspect the rest is just really marketing...
m.