This is my life--but I never give any thought to it.
I wasn't depressed and I wasn't having a midlife crisis, but I was suffering from midlife malaise--a recurrent sense of discontent and almost a feeling of disbelief. "Can this be me?" I'd wonder as I picked up the morning newspapers or sat down to read my e-mail.
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But though at times I felt dissatisfied, that something was missing, I also never forgot how fortunate I was...I had everything I could possibly want--yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had. I didn't want to keep taking these days for granted. The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: "What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner." I didn't want to look back, at the end of my life or after some great catastrophe, and think, "How happy I used to be then, if only I'd realized it."
- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
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