Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need. --Voltaire

so yesterday i woke up feeling a cold coming on. this type of thing happens to me without fail on a day that lisa has taken off. so i know the responsibility lies on my shoulders alone and that it is up to me that day to make sure that everything goes well. it's something i take seriously because i take my job seriously. it's something i believe in. i also believe in giving my all to my work, especially because i love the people i work with and for. that makes the giving so much easier. and not only that, but i feel like it's being true to myself to do my best. it's having integrity, in a way. am i making sense? anyways i started off doing what needed to be done, but feeling the drudgery and sluggishness that comes from not feeling well. i got there half an hour early, set things up, yadda yadda yadda, and the whole time i'm feeling sorry for myself because i don't feel well. poor me, and look what i'm doing even though i feel sick, and i'm probably going to get sick and it's all going to be on the weekend, and lisa is never here when i am sick, and boy aren't i self-sacrificing... all my thoughts are me me me, but soon as people come in and the real work begins not only do i forget that i'm not feeling well, but i stop thinking about me at all. i'm busy the whole day and don't even think about feeling unwell or tired until the drive home, when it all comes back to me. the point i'm trying to make is that although i've learned this many times, i've realized once again that that stupid quote dade used to always recite by president McKay, that lists all the ills of life and their remedy as work, is really true. work is like some kind of cure all. well actually i don't mean cure all, but that whin i get caught up in work of some sort, like my job, gardening, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, cleaning my room, or whatever, and i throw my whole self into it, i forget about myself, and that includes the heartaches, and issues i'm stewing over. it gives me something else to put my energies into and they are always productive wholesome things because that is what work is. and whether i accomplish something worthwhile, or make progress, or create something beatutiful, it's something to be proud of, and it makes me feel good, and i get some perspective and some healing in little bits. if you are working you usually don't ruminate, not if you're doing a good job, and it therefore eliminates wallowing. (i'm known to indulge in a good wallow at times) and it makes you thankful and turns your thoughts outwards and upwards. and it makes your life fuller and you find more interests and further projects and you finally realize that work is where the real enjoyment of life is found, even leisure is only enjoyable because you first worked, otherwise it's just tedium and boredom (one of the basic beliefs behind the clubhouse model) anyways i could probably go on and on in this euphoric manner for quite some time but i think i've said my say.

in a related topic, i learned a work lesson when working for dad in his office. it was a job that i was actually quite good at, but which i didn't enjoy, and i found myself not giving my all. i would waste lots of time and the day would just drag on, and i always left feeling drained, tired and cabin feverish. i also felt bad because i didn't feel honest and i knew dad trusted me. i finally had this breakthrough. i often included dad in my prayers, especially after i started working for him because i saw how much he needed it, and i realized one day that i was kind of being a hypocrite, praying for dad's success, but not really working for it with all of my effort. so then i found a purpose and it made all the difference in my work. and that's that.