Working on Joy

Yesterday, I did something crazy and nearly totally unlike me.  It was a radical departure from the norm.  Almost (but not quite) scary.

I took the day off.

Well, mostly.  I took care of a couple of work & house things, but then had a conversation with FryDaddy who  came home a little early from school this week.  Some class cancellations that were announced in advance, a little working ahead, and a little planning made this possible for him.  For me, it was a regular work week, which (to be honest with you) stunk like very bad meat or very good cheese.  I do not intend to let this happen again - a subject that will be revisited in April, so stay tuned.

At any rate, I decided (and was supported in my decision by my unindicted co-conspirator) to just stop for the rest of the day.  We had already made some plans for the day and joyfully made some others to add to the existing ones.  The funny thing is, our plans didn't quite work out - the show we had arranged to see was just a hot plate of awful, dinner involved a bit of a wait for seats at the kitchen bar (we'd still be waiting if we had insisted on a table), and the movie was meh, despite the Oscar buzz.

So what?

We were in it together.  And, lo, it was good.

It'd be nice if we didn't have to plan to have fun and it'd be nice if I didn't feel like I was getting away with something by not being hooked into work so much of the time when I'm not in the office.  But life is.  I'm not sure what comes after the verb there, but yesterday was a mess o' fun and I'm convinced that's not a bad thing. Yeah, it'd be nice if I didn't have to work on joy, but it'd be much worse if I thought that because I do have to work on it, that I just shouldn't bother.

Joseph Campbell had it mostly right - following your bliss is a good and noble thing, but first you have to take the time to look for it.  And that's not usually done hunched over a computer keyboard checking course assignments.  Ibsen's Nora was right - while there are duties and responsibilities that we have toward others, there are also duties and responsibilities to oneself and those have to be answered to as well.

Now go play!