As the year draws out to a close, I'd like to think this blog was worth something to me and to others. That would make me happy.
For a high school student, and most people in general, happiness is a very important aspect of their lives. We love happiness because it is a pleasant feeling; everybody knows what it is and wants more of it.
After reading The Happiness Myth by Jennifer Michael Hecht, It's become quite clear that modern research has isolated why we feel happy when we do certain things. This is blatantly obvious to most, only because the reasonable explanation is "it just does." I'm trying to find out WHY it makes you feel all nice on the inside.
According to the book, the origin of human happiness is divided into a few categories: Wisdom, Drugs, Money, Bodies, and Celebration. Some include aspects of of the others, and can be experienced by all. Everyone feels happiness in their lives. Might as well go looking for more.
I don't claim to be a neuroscientist or anything, but it seems that happiness triggers a chemical response that makes you "feel" good. So if all happiness is derived from these chemicals, are we not in fact drugging ourselves? Can we become addicted?
Of course of we can. Some people stick to hedonism as a guideline for living because it's human instinct to become happy. It was invented along with the first humans.
The real problem is obtaining happiness. There are many actions that can be taken to induce the chemical heaven in your brain, but it all depends on what you like and how far you're willing to go. We know of the obvious methods with questionable legality.
It ranges from roller coaster adrenaline rushes, hundred people orgies, and the killing of others. To each their own. Besides, don't forget about the sadist who refuses to hurt the masochist.
The truth is, when you become older, the opportunities to obtain happiness widen exponentially. You get to drive, drink, smoke, live on your own, etc. It's the transition to this stage that you can either embrace or ignore. It's this transition that makes things complicated.
It's the drugs you take with your friends at lunch, the short-lived relationships with that one person, or the combined glee of that last bell on the last day of school. This kind of happiness is liberating, addicting, and revered above all else.
And then there's the downside. There are laws, regulations, and rules that prevent you from trying to have fun. So you break them and you keep going.
Or you turn violent and angry, letting your frustrations turn you into a person with desperate needs and desires, a person that society fears and shuns.
I've come to believe that this whole transition phase is vital in shaping the rest of your life. Knowing whether or not you can achieve happiness in your adolescence allows you to make decisions on what kind of person you want to be, what kind of life you want to live. It's what defines your goals, aspirations, and endeavors. It's what drives you to live and succeed.
So perhaps you can imagine the frustration that occurs when a person in this transition phase is feeling unhappy. When they refuse to see the life ahead of them. When they don't see the point in finding future happiness because they can't find any now.
So they say happiness isn't everything. Maybe not, but it sure means alot.
What is the unhappy high school student to do?
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