The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living: A Guide to ACT

by Russ Harris

realized, once he had connected with his values, that his work was not meaningful. He had become a lawyer primarily for status and money and also to win the approval of his parents (who were both lawyers). What he really wanted to do, though, was to support and care for people, and especially to help them grow, learn, and develop. Ultimately, he decided to retrain as a psychologist. In order to do this, he was willing to make room for a lot of discomfort: loss of income, many years of extra study, parental disapproval, anxiety over whether he was doing the right thing, thoughts about “all those years wasted,” and so on.