I caught myself this week falling into the fatalist cynicism that sometimes (c'v) overcomes those olim who have lived in the country for years. For me it's been eight years, most of my independent adult life.חי נושא את עצמו בשבת - בששת ימי החול, הקב"ה משיא אותנו, רק בשבת באמונה פשוטה נושאים את עצמנו - לכן עולם הבא יום שכולו שבת
If there is one thing that hassidut stresses above all else, it is the importance of being happy always. We need to be always excited by life, excited to continue life, excited to overcome life's challenges.
It's not always possible to maintain excitement day in, day out. For this reason, when our excitement is at a low we need to turn to HaShem and place the full burden of our existence on Him. It's a hard lesson to learn, and harder still to implement once you intellectually know it to be true. I think it's also a challenge every time you come back to it; but there's no other way.
If our burden gets too heavy, we have to remind ourselves: we aren't really carrying it. It isn't (exactly) our job to carry it.
Perhaps there is a hidush lurking in this predicament: (as Rav Mordechai Eliyahu quoted recently) חי נושא את עצמו בשבת - on Shabbath, a living being carries itself. Perhaps the only time when we are meant to carry ourselves is on Shabbath. The six-day work week, HaShem is carrying us. Shabbath, the only way open to us to carry ourselves is emunah, through faith in HaShem that all of our needs are provided for.
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