Finding Happiness

"I only want to be happy in life! Is that too much to ask for?" That's a line that everyone hears, and I'm sure most people have used it. This is a lot to want and ask. How do people achieve the goal of being happy? Only wanting to be happy is a great thing to want, but it's a lot to achieve, and almost impossible to achieve the way most people go about it. 

Being happy means, according to the oxford dictionary, "Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment". Think about this, for you to be happy with your life you have to be content with your life. Not just with your life, but with where you are right now in life. How can you be content with your life, if you haven't gotten the promotion you want at your job, don't have the right amount of money in the bank, don't have the kind/ size of family you want, or don't have the car you want. How can you be content with your life, if you haven't made it to where you want to be? You can't really. What happens when you make it to that next position, what happens when you get the promotion you wanted? Maybe you're happy for a few days, weeks, possibly even months. But what happens then? You're ready for the next promotion, and thus the cycle continues. This goes for everything. We always want something new, something better. Now this is not a bad thing. In fact, this is one of the reasons that our capitalist system works. Everyone wants more, and they act in their own self interest to get it. However, this is no way to gain happiness. Will getting that BMW really make you happy? Will that be what brings everything together? The answer is no it will not. You might think it will, but shortly after getting it you'll realize it's not all that it's cracked up to be. 

People normally measure happiness by their possessions, their job, their income, their home, their anything that needs to be attained.  This is the biggest flaw when it comes to wanting to be happy. You don't need to be making $100k a year to be happy. You don't need a 2 story home to be happy. You don't need a $50k car, or even a $10k car to be happy. You don't even need a family to be happy. All you need is something to be thankful for. You could have nothing, but your life and a few bucks in your pocket. That doesn't mean you can't be happy. You just have to be thankful that you have life, that you can interact with people, that you can see the sunrise or sunset. Being happy isn't a matter of having the perfect life, yeah that would be nice, but even the most perfect life won't bring you happiness. If you find things to be thankful for, you can still be ambitious, buy more things, try to move up the corporate ladder, and still be happy before you make it to the finish line. You don't need to attain anything to be happy, just be thankful.