Want to be happier at work? Try joining a church

I spend a lot of time thinking, and writing, about how to have a happy and meaningful work life. I've always subscribed to the idea that since work takes up about half of my waking hours, I want to enjoy what I'm doing with those hours, or at least not be miserable during them.For a long time that meant thinking a lot about my work. If I was unhappy with a job I'd try to fix the job, or get a new one. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I needed from work. I tried working on the most important work I could get, and optimizing for social and professional status. I tried quitting that job and optimizing for free time. I tried optimizing for the activities that I most enjoy in the work— writing more code and less Terraform. I tried getting promoted. I tried leading teams. I tried not leading teams. I tried avoiding getting too close to any of my coworkers. I tried becoming friends with my coworkers. I tried avoiding getting too close to any of my coworkers again. I tried working…