After reading this weeks chapter and looking through posted resources, I have been able

to further look into how the hardships of life can't get in the way of your happiness. Being
a senior in college I have been thinking more and more about real life stresses, and have
come to realize it is very important to find activities, and people who truly create
happiness in your life. Throughout life playing sports, I always got told that you can never
be "too high" or "too low" on yourself because there will always be a slump in the future
someway, somehow. The hedonic treadmill is a perfect example of why this is a way to live
by, no matter what happens for you, at some point you will be at baseline happiness or
maybe even lower.

In Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton's article about the relationship between money
and happiness they write about how the success you gain will only improve your outlook
on your own life, but not your happiness. This had me thinking about when people are
working for their success, all they can think about is how happy they will be once they get
this salary, or this house, or this car, but all I ever hear is that once you get it nothing
changes as far as how happy you are in life. This more than anything has scared me about
how life goes, but it also reassured to me that I need to find things that can help make any
boring day one that makes me happy with myself. I am happy to have found a girlfriend
that brings me joy when doing anything, such as just sitting and doing our own homework
together. We also have a dog that brings me a sense of pride, since he's such a good dog for
being just a puppy, and obviously joy because he's a cute puppy that gets excited whenever
he sees us. That reading just really opened my eyes to how important those two are in my
life, and how much they mean to me.

When doing the person-activity fit diagnostics, my results told me that I will find the most
happiness in doing more activities that truly engage me, practicing religion and spirituality,
and committing to my goals. Because of this, I am definitely going to put more time into
certain things. I am going to start playing pickleball more with my girlfriend. We bought
paddles and everything, but we haven't gotten the chance to go to a park yet because of
busy we have been, but that's something I want to do more is going to the park with my
girlfriend and our dog. I was raised in a Christian household, so I have always been strong
in my faith and I always have found it peaceful to pray before going to bed. I will always
continue praying daily and will make it a goal to be more mindful throughout the day about
my blessings instead of waiting for nighttime. Lastly to commit to my goals more I am
going to start studying for my FE and practicing Civil3D more, which is an application used
in civil engineering.

534 words

Sources
Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom and Philosophy to the
Test of Modern Science. Random House Business Books, 2021.

Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (n.d.). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional
well-being - PNAS. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1011492107

Links to an external site.

pathtohappiness.com