I’d have to argue that no, that’s actually not a very depressing view of life. It’s just being pragmatic. The reality of life is that most people don’t love their jobs, and it’s not realistic that everyone could. It’s taken a while, but I’ve settled into a career that works for me. It doesn’t actually move me to jump out of bed in the morning, and I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather do. That said, most of the things I’d rather do pay a lot less, and as the poster stated, life costs money and I don’t want to be working until I’m 80, so I had to find some balance. My job (engineering) is respectable, sometimes challenging, and serves a purpose, it’s just not something I’m overly passionate about. On the upside, it pays enough such that I’m reasonably comfortable, secure, I have very little stress, and I have a lot of vacation and flexibility. It sounds like a take a lot more vacation than the poster about might but the combination of decent paycheck and lots of vacation (and ability for leaves of absence) have allowed me to have a lifetime worth of adventures during my 15 year career. It’s allowed me to feel like I can provide for family, take vacation when I want, and pursue my passions outside of work. Generally though, I view it as a paycheck that allows me to do things that I actually am passionate about; world travel, mountaineering, backpacking, owning a little cooperative microform. I go to work, put in my time, do a good job and then don’t really think about it when I leave. Outside of work I have fun with my friends and family and spend all my time doing things I enjoy and adventuring. You may call that way of looking at the world depressing, but I’d call it practical. And what matters is how I feel at the end of the day. And how I feel is that my life is generally awesome and very fulfilling. Amazing friends, good family, many adventures complete and ever growing list of future trips and adventures to look forward to with my family and friends.