The real problem with work, then, is not that our expectations are too high. It's that we have confused work with paid employment. Breaking the link between work and money allows us to reclaim balance and sanity. By separating work and wages we bring together the different parts of ourselves and remember that our real work is just to live our values as best we know how. When we are whole, we don't need to try to consume our way to happiness.
Happiness is our birthright.
If you are 40 years old, actuarial tables indicate that you have just 329,601 hours of life left in your life-energy bank account. These hours are all you've got. There is nothing in your life that is more valuable than your time, the moments you have left. You cannot put too much awareness and intention into the way you invest those moments. Similarly, paid employment takes its only intrinsic value from the fact that we are paid to do it.