Everybody wants to be happy (except for goths and roadies, of course). However, in today’s fast-paced, fatuous, and often malodorous world, finding contentment can be difficult. To that end, all sorts of people will come forward claiming to hold the secret to happiness. Various religions insist you’ll be happy if you pray to their gods and follow their arbitrary rules concerning diet and masturbation. Minimalists claim you’ll be happy if you get rid of all your stuff and buy every single product designed and sold by Apple Inc. And Dr. Drew from “Celebrity Rehab” says you’ll be happy if only you’d put down that crack pipe and stop driving your car through crowded shopping malls.

 

I prefer to take a simpler approach, since none of the above philosophies changes the fact that, like it or not, we’ve all got to get crap done. Not only does getting crap done comprise most of our day, but it’s largely the stress and irritation that goes along with getting crap done that makes us so unhappy. Therefore, it would stand to reason that, if you can render getting crap done into fun, you can turn drudgery into delight. It’s sort of the alchemy of the mundane.

 

“Alchemy of the mundane” would be what I would name my secret society.