College Admissions Essay: My Pursuit Of Happiness

Essay C: Considering your lifetime goals , discuss how your current and future academic and extracurricular activities might help you achieve your goals.

It is natural for a person to focus their goals on what will provide happiness. People do not focus on being poor for instance but it does not mean that being rich provides complete happiness.

People usually hear the word goal and they immediately consider their pursuit of happiness. Often, this goal has been in pursuit of a relationship, wealth, or great notoriety that they want; then they will be content. Although many may argue that pursuing happiness as a goal does not have detrimental effects, psychologists, previous wars, along with immigration all illustrate that pursuing happiness has more inimical consequences than advantageous.

Psychologist James Hamblin believes that happiness comes from experiences that occur in life rather than the materials life has to offer. In other words, a person will be happier in the long run going on vacation rather than buying a new phone. Hamblin’s article creates an argument in hopes of encouraging people to enjoy the moments in life and not the big or little things. Hamblin argues that ‘if you pay for an experience, like a vacation, it will be over and gone; but if you buy a tangible thing, a couch, at least you 'll have it for a long time” (Hamblin 2014). A person may be able to buy something and have it in possession for a long period of time,

Goals, goals, goals they're what people think about and how they are going to achieve them in the future. My three goal in life are to get in the college of my choice, go skydiving and to get a well paying job. These three goals are important to me because they are what I am likely to achieve within the next ten years. As I grow and blossom into someone big, someone bigger than who I am today I don’t mean just physically but bigger intellectually, and more capable. These goals show me that if I want to achieve them, then I have to work hard to accomplish them.

Everyone wants something and needs it in life to make them happy. In the “The Happiness of Pursuit” article written by Jeffrey Kluger the article is about how people want to find something to make them happy in life. How they spend money on things people don't really need “We buy ourselves an annual $140 billion worth of recreational equipment and $200 billion of electronics.” Then there is the fact in the article where they talk about how many people are happy in america with their lives. In it they said one third of americans said they were happy. “Since 1972, only about one-third of Americans have described themselves as "very happy," “. So in conclusion to all of this they are saying people want to find things to make them happy and fulfill

Essentially, seeking happiness is necessary in life. We often hope to find happiness from other people, other things around us and forget that we can create it by ourselves. The novel “The happiness project” by Gretchen Rubin is sufficient evidence. The author states, “I am happy – but I’m not as happy as I should be.”(13) Then she started a project within a year to change her life and seek for a happier life. By making a list of things she has to do in the next twelve months, the author have done many things which affects her “Vitality” (1), her “Marriage” (38), her “Leisure” (112), her “Friendship” (141),etc. positively so that she can achieve her goal, which is a life full filed of happiness as she dreamed before. We can also do that. We know that if everyone of us set a goal and live purposely, we are all happy. However, we can be happier if we know how to change ourselves on the right way. We can make ourselves happy by doing simple things in our everyday life.

To bottle the essence in this premier moment- the liquid of success and pride, the raw emotion in that moment that has propelled my character to it's actualized state of being- would have been a fantasy amongst reality. I open my tear dotted eyes as my ears resonate the echoes of confetti cannons and cheers from the arena. My muscles ache with joy, and my mind is chasing the realization that is at hand. I have just won a midwestern color guard championship. The golden haze of chaos that ensues is one that has forever imprinted on my mind, a haze that lingers in my peripheral vision, in constant search of a worthy emotion to compare to. The prime success in this moment alone- has been the sole fuel in the flame of my determination and strive for achieved ambitions.

This year I have done a lot of wanting. A lot of wishing. Wanting things that cannot be and wishing that my current situation would immediately and drastically transform into an entirely alternate experience. Wanting things that can no longer be. To be in want.

In our modern era, people are engaged and in a constant state of planning. The constant planning is vital since it allows us to save time and money. People invest so much time planning and organizing their future that they forget to live in the “now.” People believe that they will achieve happiness when they acquire their new vehicles, phones, or homes. However, it is not until they finally possess the new and trendy items, that people realize that those items were not enough. Thus, people enter a vicious cycle where the individual needs to work to purchase and obtain possessions believing that it provides happiness. However, this cycle never ends because it is just a false sense of happiness and instant gratification. Individuals live in constant moving society where they never have time to stop and enjoy every moment of their lives. When the golden years are approaching, people begin to repent for their missed chances and moments; specifically, those undervalued moments where they had the option to achieve Carpe Diem.

There is no doubt that throughout life what we want changes. When we were five we may want a toy car or ice-cream because even as children we recognize the connection between simple items and happiness. As we grew older those children like desires remained but we also moved on to greater things such as a dream collage or for most teenagers a good night's sleep. Going past this age, I have no personal experience, but a recent survey conducted over the past 75 years at started by those at Harvard and a summary published in The New York Times reveals that a majority of

According to recent studies, 66% of Americans own either a smartphone, laptop or tablet and amazingly, 36% own all three (Anderson). These devices are convenient and useful tools that have revolutionized the way people communicate, navigate, shop... Despite all of our technological advances that have made life much easier, cases of anxiety and depression have steadily increased in recent years. Ironically, our digital devices can inadvertently be the reason why we are less happy today than ever before. In his nationally best selling book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains how optimal experience or as he calls it flow, is the mechanism of happiness. When a person is experiencing flow they feel a deep

The younger version of ourselves thought that happiness came from toys and everything we don’t use anymore. As we mature, most of us realize that joy doesn’t come from accessories it comes from love our parents give us, friends that care for us, but most of all happiness comes from within.

As most of my peers, I have been asking myself a question, what do I want out of my life? This question bothers many people, and not only the college students who are trying to figure out the path that will lead them to the comfortable life. One might ask, what is that comfort that we all are striving for? Is it a state of mind or is it some unknown world that we are so eager to enter. It varies from person to person; there are several aspects, such the way were raised, making, of our lives that could influence a person and the future decisions that we’ll make.

As we grow up and become the people we were meant to be, we go through stages of our lives where the things that make us happy and the dreams we have for the future may change. I believe it is a part of life and of growing up. I believe without whatever it is that makes us happy, life is dull. I feel the same about dreams and goals; what is life without desiring for better in our own future and the future of those surrounding us. We change as individuals just as the environment around us changes. We adapt and grow. Our ideas about life change with age, maturity, and ever growing knowledge. That is life, and no two people have an alike experience of it.