A common lesson or theme that I’ve come across through reading, conversations with people in my life, personal experiences, storytelling, as well as a variety of other mediums, is that the easiest way to be happy in life is to do work you love with people you love.

Lovable work is obviously a broad concept, but an encompassing measurement I come back to is whether or not you feel as though that work is aligned with your purpose. I’ve come to the conclusion that the work I love tends to energize me more than it drains me. I've also recognized that I can much more easily lose myself (and my sense of time) in the work I love. I’ve found that the work I love tends to impact something much larger than myself. I've realized that this work often involves finding a role in which I can apply my unique skill set and interests towards problems that go beyond my tiny little world and the limited range at which I can see things. There’s a difference in the individual whose mission is to solely fend and survive by themselves, versus the individual whose mission is to help feed the village.

I've found that the people I come to love have always pushed me past the current perceived ceiling that I had set for myself. I've also learned that I may sometimes not immediately identify this as love or I may not even realize that I love them, but it truly is a certain subset of people in my life that have reinforced my sense of identity, provided me deep and meaningful connection, and have nourished an innate desire to feel as though I belong, wherever I find myself. This sense of identity, connection, safety, and feeling as though we belong is an incredible propellant towards one’s growth. I believe it is the people you love that give you the guidance required to push past what you only believe you are capable of when you cannot find it within yourself to do so. A community of people who believe in one another is conducive to producing something much larger than themselves.

And so I would like to live my life by this principle, of doing work that I love, with people that I love.