Happiness, Motivation and the meaning of life

Now, it must obvious that when it comes to each individual person, the reasons we do things are all different to each other creating a certain complexity when we try and delve into the reasonings of actions for each individual person. I for one am a massive enjoyer of anime and appreciate it very much as a form of art. Others, may like other types of things such as a certain practice like a hobby that is regularly done. But, what does it mean to appreciate something and how does this guide the actions we make now and in the future? Today I would like to talk about the meaning to strive for something and why we want to achieve them.

Happiness is defined by Britannica as "a state of emotional well-being that a person experiences either in a narrow sense, when good things happen in a specific moment, or more broadly, as a positive evaluation of one’s life and accomplishments overall—that is, subjective well-being". I want to look closer at the use of good things in a specific moment as I feel this may be a common goal that people try to attain. Now let us look at a theoretical example where a person says they feel joy from sightseeing. To them, they may appreciate the beauty of nature or the unique cultures of different societies. One may try to find this sense of happiness in the short term and go on trips often but later run out of money, preventing them on going on future trips. I feel that happiness as a motivating factor may blind some from reaching prolonged joy for an instant pleasure. I think a commonplace problem that positive feelings bring is addiction and a lack of rational thinking with drug and alcohol addiction as prime examples. Being blinded by the pleasure gained in a moment those taking such harmful products end up damaging their bodies and lives. When we look into this side of trying to attain happiness, is it really such a good feeling to experience happiness?

Happiness may be a common goal to achieve but now let us see the extents people go to attain it. The popular show Squid game displays the extent people will go to achieve happiness. These people in poor financial situations will risk their lives to try and better their lives with the risk of losing their own. Gi-Hun, who was a gambling addict and escaping loan sharks, put himself in a death game under his own volition to regain the life he once had, where compare to during the games he was happy. I think this extends that the idea of being in a positive situation being something that people will risk great lengths to obtain. Another example I think can be used here is Forest Gump who in spite of the many problems he faces with his mental capabilities, tries to find happiness in his life. In search for happiness and love, Gump went on a journey reuniting with Jenny time and time again until reaching a point of feeling happiness. This I feel demonstrates that the time taken to find happiness may be long but something people are willing to wait for to attain. I think what motivation shows us in general is that the goal of happiness is a strong incentive and that what brings us joy is something that we are willing to risk our lives and time for in order to attain.

Finally, in life, it is often heard that the meaning of it is to achieve happiness. This is something I feel I can understand. Since, we live mortal lives that inevitably end with death, it is only understandable to make the most of it as seen by the YOLO trend of the 2010s. One criticism I want to give about this understanding of life is the fact that it is a rather selfish perspective on the notion of life and may risk the wellbeing of others for the consideration of oneself. A give and take situation and therefore I cannot fully accept this way of life though understand why some follow it. To finish off, happiness is a guiding factor which gives us goals and reasons to our actions and something we all strive for though a two sided coin which may cause us to harm ourselves and others, therefore needing to be taken into consideration. Though it is something that we all strive for, think first about the cost it takes to reach the happiness you desire and make sure that you live the most of your life!