In my freshman year 8 a.m. poetry class, the professor said this as a passing remark,
“That’s all one should try to be in life, isn’t it? Be excellent, and be interesting.”
It’s stuck with me. Society’s general consensus seems to be that we should strive for happiness, but I feel that happiness is vague, fleeting, and unremarkable — what is it, anyway? The dopamine rush after a good meal? The giddiness of seeing your loved ones? A good massage? A paycheck?
On the other hand, excellence is long-lasting and irrefutable, interestingness is exciting and attractive. They are things you can cultivate for yourself.
…which I feel is an important characteristic to consider when choosing your life motto. For me at least, happiness seems to depend on chance events that are out of my control, like the weather, my mother’s wellbeing, other people’s perception of me, or perfect chemical balance in the brain. No matter how much I try to separate my happiness from these factors, I can’t. I’ve accepted that I am predisposed to want certain things. And I don’t think it is good to nail my life purpose into a quality (happiness) that I have not much say in.
I do try to be a positive person. But that’s more of a default mindset — positivity doesn’t really motivate me to take action and direct myself toward a certain value.
My point is that I’ve stopped trying so desperately to be happy all the time. It’s been exhausting labeling sad days as time wasted or a form of failure. I’d much rather be excellent and interesting, which sounds far more sustainable and open-ended than happiness.
