介绍:
Similarly, couples who choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless over painful hapiness. They can dine out ever they want and sleep as late as they want. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or three-day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to desicribe raising children.
But couples who decide not to have children never experience the pleasure of hugging them or tucking them into bed at night. They never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild. But these forms of fun do not contribute in any real way to my happiness. More difficult endeavors-writing,raising children,creating a deep relationship with my wife,trying to do good in the world-will bring me more happiness than can ever be found in fun ,that least permanent of things.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations we can ever come to. It liberate time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money : buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberate us from envy: we now understand that all those rich and glamorous people we were so sure are happy because they always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
The moment we understand that fun does not bring happiness, we begin to lead our lives differently. The effect can be, quite literally, life-transforming.
