On Sense and Sensibility

Surprisingly enough this blog post has nothing to do with the delightful novel written some 200 years ago by Miss Jane Austen, though I did just finish reading it for the first time and found out why it is considered a classic. Usually I feel that drama is overdone and bothersome, but Miss Austen seems to have the perfect recipe for it. Excess within control one might say.

This post is about (in my humble opinion) a more...dare I say...practical use of sense and sensibility. No offense to you Miss Austen.

Recently I have been fascinated with the idea of happiness (see former posts). Happiness in spite of horrible circumstances e.g. a job you hate going to everyday, being cheated out of two hundred eighty dollars every paycheck, or something of that ilk. It is been said erroneously that happiness is a consequence of your choices not actually a choice. Were that true you and I would be much happier people for I believe we make choices everyday that would ensure our happiness. You make slave away at a desk all day trying with all your heart to help someone you have never met secure a pension from the government and never be thanked. Oh, and by the way you are making pennies an hour that barely keep you above the poverty level. You may have a four-year degree from a university. You may be one of the most caring and talented individuals in your generation. And yet here you are going back to the grind everyday working for that all important dollar; hating every minute of it. Wishing that one day someone would take you away from your hell. Take you to a brand new colony where everything would change...

You might be wondering what this has to do with sense and sensibility and in all candor I am trying to come up with the perfect segue into that topic, but alas it eludes me. For now I beg your indulgence for a lack of a decent segue.

To me, sense and sensibility say, that if you hate what you do change it. Do not be a creature of circumstance, but rather be its creator. Throw practicality to the wind if you must; your sanity is not worth it. Find something that truly makes you happy and pursue it with all the inexhaustible energy and excitement of a child. It may take you Seattle or any other part of the country. It may bring you back to your past. You may not understand everything about it, but you definitely can appreciate the beauty of being happy. Do what you must to be happy. Practicality may even be so subtle in its attempts to deceive you by trying to convince you that he is sense and sensibility. Pay him no mind for he is only a man behind a curtain; a fraud and charlatan.

Only remember..excess within control. It is the recipe for a perfect book and a perfect happiness.