A Side Hustle in Delight

No matter your news source, the news is bad.  Really, news is inherently bad.  I mean, what’s newsworthy of nothing happened today?  That’s just the nature of the news beast.  But that doesn’t mean we as individuals, can’t inspect the cracks for levity and joy.

​In fact, I propose that it is our duty to do so.  We must maintain a side hustle in delight.  To fail to do so is  to besmirch our own human capacity for mirth.  It is to play the victim.  It is to wallow.  Don’t get me wrong:  I myself, have dabbled a bit in these dark acts.  It is rather easy to find oneself on that well-worn path of despair.  It is for this exact reason that we must accept the assignment of joy.  This is no small mission, my friends, but I know we are up to the task.

It requires concentration and effort and seeking.  You might, at first, sweat and grunt with the work of it, bowing under the weight of the impossibility of this mission.  But find that first delight (a child’s giggle, a bird’s morning tune, a gurgling creek, a snapdragon in the crack of a sidewalk, the relief of a cloud on a hot day), and the second becomes a slight bit easier to find.  Until, suddenly, you find yourself skipping amongst the clouds, enveloped in joy.

This is not to say that we should ignore the problems of the world around us. No, this is distinctly our side hustle.  But it is precisely this side hustle that better arms us to tackle the problems of the world around us. Without joy, we only exacerbate the problems.  We only throw more darkness on the despair with our useless complaints because without delight, what exactly is worth saving?  What is worth repairing? 

So soldier on, my comrades in arms against despair.  Let us find our joy and then fight to preserve it. Once we find our own, we will spread this contagion to the rest of the world and our levity will better lift those imposing boulders of darkness that pin our brethren down.

---