The failed chase

We chase happiness. We buy the latest iPhone, follow fashion trends and listen to the UK top 40 hits which are essentially about not existing without your significant other half. Sure, we have moved some-what away from that 1960s stereotype of the perfect housewife/husband... but we are still indoctrinated through media that the essence of life is to grow up, getting married, have two beautiful children and live happily after... and if things don't go this way, then we get a bit lost and confused. Where are we going wrong?!

What if you're the 25 year old who doesn't want to get married and have children? But, since everyone else around you is doing it... you start to question yourself. Or, what if you're the 21 year old who has met the love of your life and don't have the slightest interest in, let's say, travelling the world? How do you differentiate what is your true desire and what society is imposing on you?

Why do we think we have to hate people who have hurt us? That it is embarrassing to tell someone you like them? And even worse... it's humiliating to be different? Why are we so scared to simply exist, to simply be? When we live in a society that is full of ideals of what is right and what is wrong, of how we should or shouldn't feel... how do you find out for yourself what truly makes you happy?

I don't think that the problem in society is peer pressure. I think that most of the time, we are all just a bit lost in trying to figure out who we are, what we want and where we are going. Since we started school, we have had numerous people telling us how things ought to be, that in the process you loose your gut feeling: you can't tell what's right and what's wrong. The result is a series of good and life bad decisions, where we often find ourselves asking: what did I do to deserve this - for both the good and for the bad. We have such an underlying fear of rejection and not being good enough that we protect ourselves with this I don't care attitude, when deep down.. we all care. We all just want to be happy.

The problem is, that while we are chasing happiness... we forget that it is in right in-front of us. That happiness is being at peace with yourself, and that the only true way you will ever be able to bring happiness to anyone else is if you're happy in yourself.. independently of.