Essential Virtues: Achieving a Good Life Man has always sought after what he deemed a “good life”. A good life is being able to achieve one’s goals, pursuit of happiness, or when life’s blessings outweigh the burdens. Virtues help guide one to become morally excellent and live a fulfilling life. A virtue can be a behavior, personality trait, or habit that affects one’s emotions, perceptions and choice in life. Three virtues that are essential for living a good life are patience, courage and perseverance. One virtue essential for living a good life is patience. Patience is the ability to remain positive and calm while enduring a troublesome period or delay. After graduating high school, for instance, I made the decision to wait a few years before pursuing a degree. As graduation approached, I realized I was not mentally mature enough to start college in the fall. Throughout those years, I was patient and remained positive even though there was doubt in my mind that I was …show more content…
Courage is having the ability to act, despite fear, pain, or uncertainty. Courage does not suppress fear but allows one to continue in the face of fear. I made the decision, for example, to tell my parents about my sexuality. I am gay, and I knew the scrutiny I could face at home, and in society if I told my parents. Although fearful, I was courageous, and shared with them that I was going though. I educated them and wanted our relationship to keep growing. I had to stay strong, and true to myself despite my mother and father not understanding my sexuality. I found strength inside myself to move beyond fear and become truly happy. It took courage to achieve happiness despite not living within society’s standards. It is easy to be comfortable, but it takes courage to stand up, be yourself, and live a fulfilling life. Courage is one of the most essential virtues, because without courage one cannot exhibit any other virtue