The other day, I was simply chatting with my friend about life in general.  The topic of the future came up, and I happened to be surprised by her statements.

She told me that she was going to major in one of two things, simply because she was good at them.

That seemed innocent enough, but when I asked her one simple question, she was at a loss for words.

“Would those choices make you happy?”

A different time, I asked another friend, “what makes you happy?”

The response was the same for both scenarios.

“I don’t know.”

Why is it that in such a free country, nobody truly knows what makes them happy.  There are movies that document the hardships to joy, but is it really that hard?

Transcendentalists, like Ralph Waldo Emerson or Thoreau, would argue that society’s pressures and standards are keeping us from our potential happiness. I agree with their thoughts that one shouldn’t worry about what others think, and just go do their thing.

Of course, since our world is based on standards and guidelines, we can’t just drop out of high school and join a nudist community in Argentina, even if that was our true desire.

But what is stopping us from being happy otherwise?  Everyone is focused on being the best, or having the most, or has the insatiable desire to achieve. 

People who have five  AP classes are conforming to this idea that one’s life is valued by what one achieves. 

I strongly disagree. Isn’t the whole point of achieving things and becoming wealthy, or whatever, to be HAPPY?

So I encourage you to  take the time out of your hectic life and focus on truly living, even if that is for only five minutes, because when you are old, on your death bed, at least you can comfort yourself by knowing that you did what you could to make the best of your life.