The Joys of...

They say that possession is nine tenths of the law. I have been told that it works kind of the same way with attitude and degree of happiness.

I don't think I'm buying this.

I know that technically if you force your face to smile, you should feel happier. Fake it til you make it right? But what my boss is saying (he's trying to make me positive at work--not happy, positive) is that if I look at all the positives at work, I will start feeling positive about being here.

So, as I mentioned before, he set me the task of coming up with 50 things that I like about work. I'm at 36...and I have been stretching this since 15. But I think his plan is really backfiring. Because instead of making me feel more positive, instead of the "oh wow, look at all the things that I like about work" reaction I'm sure he was hoping for, I'm thinking more "oh my god, I don't like anything here--why am I here?".

(an aside- I'm here because despite earning a none too cheap degree recently, the bottom seems to have fallen out of the world and jobs are scarce)

It's depressing. An example from my list? #26 is that I like office supplies. By #34 I felt the need to be more specific- I like highlighters. I'm thinking about working in my joy of post-its and all the different shapes and colours that they come in.

I have also been enthusiastic about the shape of my desk (#21) and having my own phone (#27).

I think you can see that I am struggling.

It has led me to thinking about all the things that I used to like about work. I used to gush about the people that I worked with. I would tell stories about how hilarious Sebastien was, how on my first day he took me to the beach on our lunch to watch shirtless soccer players. Once upon a time I even got to do crafts at work, AND dress up like a fairy (worked in a crafts store and did children's birthday parties). People were jealous about how much fun I seemed to have at work. Now people pity me.

So good job Management-another failed attempt. Where do they come up with these things anyway? Not only is it a huge waste of corporate time (definitely not working on this at home) but it hasn't even had the intended effect.

Not sure what part of this surprises me...