Give Up On Happiness
Updated: Mar 7, 2022
Why do you constantly chase happiness? Are you mixing it up with pleasure? Purpose? Meaning?
Is chasing happiness truly the best way to find it? Is it truly the meaning of life?
Victor Frankl would argue that humans must not chase happiness but should chase meaning above all:
"Don’t aim at success — the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than one-self." - Victor Frankl
But you really want this burger right now!
— It will make you happy…
But you really want to roll in bed
— It will make you happy…
But you really want to watch TV
— It will make you happy…
But you want to chase for more money
— It will make you happy…
It sure feels good to lie down in that couch…. until you feel like you have something to do — until you see that the clock is ticking — until you realize that soon enough, you will be dead.
Remind yourself of your own mortality and ask yourself what use would it be to follow this hedonistic path of life? What do you end up with? The illusion of happiness? What use would it have to give myself up to my own selfish pleasure? What do you end up with?
At the end of the day, you will be dead. Well… if it’s the case, might as well "suffer" a bit for something greater than yourself: (1) your character, (2) your family, (3) your friends, (4) the world.
