Personal Narrative Essay: The Idea of Happiness

“Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”  -Joseph Addison. The word happiness differs in definition for each person as everyone has different preferences. For some people to be happy all they need to do is see their friends, to others, it is being alone for a time. Some people need to buy expensive clothes to be happy and others just need to buy food to get that feeling. They all have the common theme of being pleased with oneself and the things they’ve done. Happiness is the absence of sadness and being pleased with life at the time. To obtain this feeling in your life, you need to do things you love to do and with the people you want to do them with, as well as focusing on the present. 

Doing the things you love to do with the people you want to do it with usually makes people really happy. When I am on a soccer field with my friends during a game, I can’t stop myself from looking around and smiling with joy. When I step on that beautiful field with my cleats on at 8:00 at night. I instantly have a feeling of pure bliss. Feeling the perfect green grass under my feet makes me feel like I’m gliding as I walk over to the bench to my team. Hearing people juggling, passing, shooting, or just talking makes me happier and happier knowing what I’m about to do. Seeing all of my friends there and hearing all of their voices at one time calling for me just makes my heart jump higher. I know that for the next 90 minutes all of my problems would disappear the second that whistle blew to start the game. I pick up the soccer ball, look around, and just appreciate the fact that I am here right now.  Even though it’s just a game, it gives me this feeling because I love this sport and the people I am doing it with make it better. The simple game of “soccer” changes my life when I am playing it. That’s what happiness is, the opposite of sadness and being pleased with life at the same time. That’s what it does for me. Many people in society think that any sport is just a game to the players and everyone watching them, but they are much more. Sports relieve stress from everyone participating in them by having people forget about all of their worries and focus on the game. You are working out during them so endorphins are being released causing happiness for everyone. If one does not do these things in their life it will be harder for them to be happy consistently. Not only do you need to do the things you love with the people you want to do them with, you also need to focus on the present to have happiness.

If you focus on the future you will be anxious and if you focus on the past you will be depressed, but if you focus on the present you will be in peace. I was hiking up a mountain with my family when I first realized this. As I was walking up the mountain, I didn’t know what awaited me on the dirt path I was walking on to get to the top of the mountain. I kept hearing many different noises that I’ve never heard before so I didn’t know what they were. I couldn’t see over the trees and bushes, so my mind was only focused on what I couldn’t see and not the beauty of nature around me. The crisp mountain air was filling me up as I was trying to calm myself down. I was so anxious for what was going to happen that I couldn’t pay attention to what was happening at the moment. Once I got to the top all the anxiety just vanished from my mind completely. I could finally focus on the moment and that’s what I did. I sat down without a worry in the world and just looked at the sunset happening over the trees and the water, and I was so happy. This may seem like a very simple and regular occurrence to many people, but to me it really makes me focus on what’s happening in the present. Happiness is the opposite of sadness and being pleased with life at the same time and I felt all of that as I watched that ball of fire slowly get swallowed up by the beautiful nature in front of me. Society says to forget about the past and look to the future to help you out. I personally think that you need to focus on the present to be happier. As I said, when I was climbing up I was scared of what was ahead because I didn’t know what would happen in the next minutes and was scared as I couldn’t see what would happen. But once I got to the top and actually looked at what was happening at the moment, it destroyed what society says about happiness. Having the ability to focus on the moment and what is happening will make you a lot happier than if you were looking at the past or at the future.  

“True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self.” - Joseph Addison. The idea of happiness can be taken as the opposite of sadness as well as being positive in life at the time.  Do the things you want to do along the people you want to do them with and look at what’s happening at the moment to be happy. It is important to know this because if you don’t, you won’t know how to obtain this feeling. Trying to figure out how to be happy is hard but once you figure it out it makes life so much easier. Whenever you become sad or angry with life, make sure to do something you love either by yourself or with people you like and appreciate the moment and what’s happening around you.