{"id":5716,"date":"2014-05-14T05:10:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T12:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=5716"},"modified":"2014-05-13T22:05:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T05:05:33","slug":"the-secret-to-happiness-or-indifference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5716","title":{"rendered":"The secret to happiness or indifference and why writers are screwed"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>The secret to happiness is letting everything be what it is instead of what you think it should be and accepting it.<br \/>\n&#8211;Every Fucking Guru<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2014\/05\/10\/the-tortured-genius-just-can-t-help-it-or-why-scott-and-zelda-went-mad.html\">People who write are doomed to be unhappy because they think too much<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211;the Daily Beast<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The happiness gurus say the secret to happiness is just accepting what is. <\/p>\n<p>I have a problem with that. Or rather an argument. Why yes, that <em>is<\/em> surprising. I am so seldom argumentative in general. <\/p>\n<p>My quibble is that letting everything be what it is and just accepting it is exactly the same thing I do when I am drifting through life aimlessly and not giving a shit about anything or anyone. It&#8217;s the same thing I do when I am hurting. It&#8217;s drifting. It&#8217;s aimless. It&#8217;s not being happy. It is just being. It is just letting shit happen. It is not trying to be better. <\/p>\n<p>It is all in the interpretation of &#8220;accepting,&#8221; I suppose, but don&#8217;t think I haven&#8217;t noticed that the key to happiness and indifference is the same. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s all in the way you live it, of course, but stop making it sound easy. It may be simple but it sure isn&#8217;t easy. Much like not eating too much.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t matter. I think too much for either of the two extremes anyway. I think too much for just letting it be, and not enough to be a really excellent tortured soul.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/20140513-212504.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/20140513-212504.jpg?w=660&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"20140513-212504.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Know what? I am going to play hookey tonight. Maybe it&#8217;s too late to call it playing hookey. I am going to just up and quit in the middle because&#8230;I am just done. Tired. Done. Empty brained.<\/p>\n<p>It isn&#8217;t a total loss. I got to have a glass of wine with my lovely friend. That&#8217;s better than blogging any time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The secret to happiness is letting everything be what it is instead of what you think it should be and accepting it. &#8211;Every Fucking Guru People who write are doomed to be unhappy because they think too much &#8211;the Daily Beast The happiness gurus say the secret to happiness is just accepting what is. I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5716\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The secret to happiness or indifference and why writers are screwed<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/20140513-212504.jpg?fit=320%2C240&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-1uc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8492,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8492","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":0},"title":"Connecting things together","author":"Michelle","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Artists connect the dots\u2014 we don\u2019t need to interpret the lines between them. We just draw them and then present our connections to the world as a gift, to be taken or left. This IS the artistic act, and it\u2019s done every day by many people who don\u2019t even think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_1352.jpg?fit=600%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_1352.jpg?fit=600%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_1352.jpg?fit=600%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6345,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6345","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":1},"title":"How to measure happiness","author":"Michelle","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Don't you think it's better to be extremely happy for a short while... than to be just okay for your whole life? --Audrey Niffenegger\/the Time Traveler's Wife It's an important question, don't you think? It's a question that would determine a lot of things about how you live your life.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/20140624-174657-64017215.jpg?fit=454%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6569,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6569","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":2},"title":"A year in the life","author":"Michelle","date":"July 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more --the Beatles\/In My Life On July 12th, 2013 I posted this: Is it a trick? What I absolutely did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5458,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5458","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":3},"title":"What I wonder about, wide awake 0200","author":"Michelle","date":"April 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Somehow, through the days I don't give in I hide the tears That wait within But then through sleepless nights I cry again --F. and B. Bryant\/Sleepless Nights Words. I wonder about words. Specifically: I wonder if there is a certain number of words that you have to know in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8445,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8445","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":4},"title":"On getting out of the happiness mafia","author":"Michelle","date":"December 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't tell one from the other I find you, or you find me? There was a time before we were born If someone asks, this is where I'll be, --Talking Heads\/This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) The Modern American World really wants us all to be happy. All\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8186,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8186","url_meta":{"origin":5716,"position":5},"title":"Keeping it simple","author":"Michelle","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This will be succinct. Stop laughing, it really will. I had a rough night the other night. I had a bad dream--not a nightmare, just an overly realistic dream about getting dumped. I woke up angry and tearful in the middle of the night, couldn't get back to sleep, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}