Happiness?

Yes. The question mark was intentional.

While at home over the holiday (which I loved, I miss my family so much) the conversation of happiness came up.  What makes a person happy?  Can anything actually make a person happy or is it an intrinsic choice?

Then Nathan and I talked about it briefly tonight.

Honestly, it confuses the snot out of me.  Right now, I have a highly intrinsically rewarding job, but it's also highly stressful.  I feel like it's affected my personal relationships, and I'm not necessarily okay with that.  Most people have been exceptionally understanding, and I appreciate that.  Does the stress go away though?  What happens if the angst cause by the stress begins to outweigh the intrinsic pleasure?

How does one even know what they're supposed to do in life?
Or is anyone even supposed to do something?  Perhaps it's all a shot in the dark and there isn't this sense of pre-determination/fate that guides a person to the "right" career choice.

And how do you know when to balance the pleasure your job brings isn't enough to compensate for the unhappiness the life outside of work brings?

This isn't to say that I am unhappy, or anything of the sort.  But the phrase "stuck" was brought up tonight and it got me thinking about how many people (myself included) often feel "stuck" in their situation.

I'm ready to go home, again.