If I could grant my children one thing, it would be the qualitative capacity to enjoy work. If granted a second wish, it would be actually finding work they loved. If granted a third, love.
Love, though, depends upon a capacity to work, doesn’t it? Imagine two people with no passions but that for each other. Does that love not fade? Work you can rely on–and I am not thinking compulsive workaholism, but rather the capacity to love in motion, the capacity to extend, to grow, to connect, to discover, to BE in relation to some cherished task.
The most lucky get paid for this; most of us just do it after we meet all the other demands on us. Still, there is pleasure even in thankless, difficult work, IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT WELL.
We have so many freedoms we never even see, much less take advantage of.