Kyla Miller: A Writing Portfolio

Justification For The Capstone Project on Happiness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s not a single person in this world that doesn’t desire happiness. After all, it’s written in America’s Constitution that people have the right to life, libety, and the pursuit of happiness. But what happens when psychologist tell us that happiness may be set at birth—that in fact, if you’re not happy now, you may never be happy, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Well that seems pretty depressing, and while I sat in my psychology class learning about this “set point” theory, I couldn’t help but feel discouraged. It’s not that I’m not happy—in fact, quite the contrary. My friends and family have always commented on my positive outlook on life and ability to bounce back from even the worst set backs. But that wasn’t the point. I couldn’t believe that some psychologists were actually saying that no matter how successful I became, how many close friends I had, if I got married to the love of my life, or obtained all the material posessions I could possibly desire, virtually none of that would change my long term happiness. So then I thought, “Well, what’s the point?” If people could be happy despite any circumstances, why was everyone trying so hard to be the best they can be? That seems like a lot of work for an outcome that won’t change either way. What’s more, most people are subconsciously working towards personal goals because they believe that they will enhance their ability to relate to others. In essence, the more successful you are in your life, the more friends you will have, the better your connections will be with family, and the more people will envy you, which is something that everyone desires, whether or not they can admit it (XX). The means for which we find success are truly rooted in the connections that it will give us with others, which have a direct affect on our happiness. Nobody works to have success just to enjoy it alone. We all want to be successful so that we can be loved by others, and in return, we will become happy. So, if we aren’t successful, surrounded by people who love us, we really aren’t happy, are we? “We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.”This quote really stuck with me, because I can’t possibly think of a better way to describe a phenomenon such as happiness. Happiness is such a complex issue, and I am determined to unpack it and test it out for myself. It’s only then that I will know exactly what happiness is and whether or not it can be changed. This project will prove to be far more useful in my life than simply fulfilling a minor in writing project requirement. For me, this project is a test to whether or not I can truly improve the quality of my life by taking concrete daily actions to change my overall happiness. For one month I took various steps to increase my happiness, some more controversial in their effectiveness than others. I completed daily logs, blogs, and tracked my happiness on an app three times daily over the course of this month. What I found was shocking to myself and will likely shock you as well. This is a project about my life and my pursuit of happiness, but don’t let that stop you from being inspired to change your life too, one day at a time.