Do you want to be happy – clutchmagonline.com

I know, I know, we’re not used to asking ourselves this question. Most times, we settle for just knowing that we have a job, as much as we may hate or despise it. Who loves their job anyways? Right? Wrong…

After years in the corporate sphere, more and more corporate sisters are looking for…happiness. Beyond even work-life balance, or breaking the glass ceiling, or satisfying the gender equality dilemma, what we all want at the end of the day is to be happy. We want to be happy for the 8+hours (more like 10+ for for some of us) we’re at work, we want to have fulfilling careers that make a difference in ours and others’ lives, we want to feel like we’re earning a living while not sacrificing or compromising important things and values like family, or self-respect, or dignity. We pretty much all want the same thing…

The only problem with all wanting the same thing and being painfully aware of it day in and day out, is settling with less than we want. Because we don’t think we can get a better, more fulfilling career. Because we think we have to stay put and put up with the status quo, hoping for a better tomorrow. Because we just don’t really think we should even want to be happy, period. After all, happiness is overrated, right? Wrong…

Sure, there’s a difference between wanting something and actually getting it. We do have to be reasonable. After all, we all live in the real world. Such are the mental blocks and barriers we build in our minds, that somehow stand in the way of our own success.

Oprah gets paid to hang out and talk to people. Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie makes a living writing the stories of an otherwise silent continent, and gets paid to speak up. Sheryl Sandberg dreamt that all women could lean in at work, so she wrote a book that is being turned into a movie, that inspires millions of women worldwide. Tyler Perry wanted to tell Black stories that empower and inspire the world, so he created Madea, and we’re all laughing our ways into inspiration and empowerment. All these people, and so many more, wanted something so bad they made it their career, and they are actually happy…at work! Exceptions? Maybe…

Yet maybe, if only maybe we asked ourselves questions like “Do I want to be happy in my career?”, maybe we could at least give the Universe something to work with…for a change…

Do You Want to be Happy at Work?

The Corporate Sister.