But I have to admit it--being Gretchen and accepting my true likes and dislikes bring me a kind of sadness. I will never visit a jazz club at midnight, hang around in artists' studios, jet off to Paris for the weekend, or pack up to go fly-fishing on a spring dawn. I won't be admired for my chic wardrobe or be appointed to a high government office. I'll never stand in line to buy tickets to the Ring Cycle. I love fortune cookies and refuse to try foie gras.It makes me sad for two reasons. First, it makes me sad to realize my limitations. The world offers so much!--so much beauty, so much fun and I am unable to appreciate most of it. But it also makes me sad because, in many ways, I wish I were different. One of my Secret of Adulthood is "You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you like to do." I have a lot of notions about what I wish I liked to do, about the subjects and occupations that I wish interested me. But it doesn't matter what I wish I were like. I am Gretchen.
The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin
