Happiness
Happiness” seems to be a word that we take for granted. We assume it has deep meaning, using it haphazardly in our speech without truly questioning what it means. But what does happiness really mean? Wikipedia defines happiness thusly: “Happiness is a state of mind or feeling such as contentment, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.” Here, I propose a more straightforward definition of what happiness is and, more specifically, what causes it: happiness is what you feel when your goals have been achieved. Happiness is difficult to define because it is such a basic emotion that we take it for granted, but there is a concrete definition. Happiness is what people feel when they have something that they want and this drive can cause one to do things you would otherwise not want to do, but taking shortcuts to the sensation of happiness (e.g. taking drugs, etc) is usually seen as unhealthy and immoral. Happiness is natures way of rewarding us
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There are many obstacles that can impede our progress toward these goals. In ancient times, it wasn't as easy to get food as it is today. It may have required marching for miles across scorching savanna to gather wild plants or risking life and limb to kill wild game. These are things that no sane human being would do willfully if there wasn't a reward behind it. In both cases, the goal was to eat and thus survive. These days, survival is much simpler, but we have different goals. Survival in our modern world usually means having a career. Having a career almost always means having a college degree of some sort. College takes time, money and a vast amount of effort, but it's an investment in ones future that will pay off years down the road. If there wasn't such a large payoff in the end, few would willingly endure the sacrifices one must make in college. But the goal is a career and the lure of feeling happiness once the goal is achieved is still there as it has been in ages