What does being happy mean? Is it the money that we always crave for? Is it the idea of finding the perfect partner that would see through you with one look in your eyes? Is it the vision of being successful in life, people appreciating and giving you respect? Will giving back to the world keep you at peace and fill you with happiness? We haven’t really figured out what makes us happy until we get that feeling.
There is a popular saying that goes like, “You don’t know what you are missing until it arrives.” Happiness is always a journey and never a destination; people find that when they have fulfilled the ambition that they thought would bring them happiness, it fails to do so after some time. It is then we begin to ask ourselves, what is happiness?
A recent survey showed that there has been an increasing number of people who are reporting depression to psychiatrists; people confess to being successful in life, yet not feeling the aura of happiness around them that they always thought success would bring them. There are also situations where people apply the principles of altruism to bring them happiness, but even though helping others brings them contentment; it does not bring the ‘happiness’ they always wanted.
Then, there are those miserable souls who were too idealistic with the concept of love and the ‘happiness’ they thought it would bring. Sadly, it did not do the trick and they were left blaming themselves, their partners or the misfortune of the relationship that could not achieve the level of merriment they always hoped for.
It makes us ask a lot of questions to ourselves. It was supposed to be this way, but why isn’t it? Life is a journey; for some, a rocky terrain with a scorching sun above; for some, a tricky maze where one does not get any answers. We want it to be a lush green land of peace and happiness; a place which gives you delight and joy in the heart. It is never like that; and it takes us a lot of years to understand it can only be achieved through intent and hard work.
To have money, you have to work hard. To be successful, you have to work harder than the others. To get respect, you have to give respect. To be happy with someone, you have to care for the both of you and choose the same road to go down. To be happy, you have to realize it is continuous and you can never stop working for it.
As time goes by, people have becoming more aware of the need to self-reflect; diving deep in the sea of questions and trying to understand the not-so-talked about issues of life. The journey of life is unique for everyone; each understanding different truths of life, each having their own stories to tell. As time has gone by, we have seen the newer generation having a keener sense of family values. Most millennials confirm to marrying later in life, not making hasty decisions like their previous generation did that led to the highest percentage of divorces ever in USA.
Divorce affects the children massively; a generation grown up in broken families knows the value of a healthy family. We keep evolving as a society; where once people wanted to see themselves in the top office of a conglomerate, they are now happy to help students with their homework at TopAssignmentExperts or earn money writing papers at ThanksForTheHelp. The focus keeps dwindling on what is important in life; as everyone is seeking fulfillment nowadays rather than the old idea of having a great job, large house, a top-of-the-line car, and having a beautiful family.
We see people travelling solo, writing diaries, trying to gain new experiences, reading books, talking to different people; all in the hope of gaining a perspective, broadening their horizons and ultimately finding themselves. Millennial are a different bunch than their older peers; Gen Z has different ideas of life where their sole focus is on themselves, it shows in their ambition and perspectives on life. Gen Z is much more enthusiastic and restless when it comes to getting what they want; they will rather outsource their educational requisites to business like BestOnlineAssignmentHelp and earn money themselves by becoming a writer on EssayWriter4U or doing papers for other students on PaperDoers saving the money from that for future purposes. This generation is much more entrepreneurial and focused on getting results; they are early-starters who have higher expectations from their lives, as each generation should be. Maybe all the old ideas should be fulfilled first to realize that it is not the key to happiness. That is why we hear so many rich people talking about how everyone should have enough money to realize that it is not the most fulfilling of values in life.
In this survey by McKinsey, it is shown that Gen Z value individual expression more and there is one value common they share; it is the search for truth. They will not let themselves be weighed down by any societal norms and will look for authenticity everywhere; even in the meanings of life, leading the website to terming it as the ‘True Gen’. Maybe it is a truer generation, if what it values the most is searching for truth. From the papers submitted by Gen Z students at OnlineAssignmentWriting, Jason opines, “we are not smarter than the previous generation, which is a well-travelled myth. We saw an older generation trying to be at peace with all they had, fighting hard and still feel miserable at their core. It led us to ask ourselves; am I going to be like them? Will I go down the same path of stairs? No, I will find my own way, my own truth. I cannot be miserable when I am older, I want to be happy and I will do everything I can to make this journey count.”
I hope each generation dives deeper, is more self-aware and finds the answers that we couldn't. Ultimately, everyone wants to be happy. We have different definitions of it, and it keeps on changing one goal at a time.
