Essay Example on The Good Life and the Pursuit for Happiness

Happiness pertains to cherishing one’s life, esteeming it in manners showed by sufficient satisfaction and a powerful feeling of importance. A good life is a comfortable life (Martin, n.d.). When analyzing on whether a good life is attainable in the pursuit of happiness, certain concepts are evident. They include; how the situation differs from one person to the next, the importance attached to someone already living a good life, the view of pity from the people around when perusing happiness and the assumptions people tend to make about various people, in the pursuit and having achieved a great life.

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Attaining a good life differs from one person to another. Julie Leach finds a good life out of pure luck as she buys the ticket randomly when going to work in an overnight shift and opens it out of boredom (Powerball Lottery Winner, n.d.). In pursuing happiness to achieve a good life, which he finally did achieve, Chris Gander had to make callous decisions. The entrepreneur and motivational speaker had to leave his young son with someone he hardly knew and hoped everything would work out, and this, he said as one of the hardest things he had to do (Chris Gander, n.d.). In his pursuit of happiness, Mr.Goodlife seems to have found a good life. From his Instagram profile, he appears to have found a good experience while pursuing something he loves and enjoys. He comes off as happy and satisfied with his content creation pursuit (Mr.Goodlife, 2020).

When one finally achieves or attains the good life, people attach particular importance to them that was not there before and on most occasions, everyone wants to be associated with them. According to the seven-time lottery winner Richard, when you win the lottery everyone you know and even some that you do not know, will be looking for a handout. People will see and view you as rich. In his Instagram timeline, Mr.Goodlife posts pictures of incredible scenes, things and instances that depict what having a good life is all about. From his number of followers, likes and comments, it is clear that a good number of people love his content, relate him to the good life and maybe respect him (Mr.Goodlife, 2020).

On the other hand, when in the pursuit of happiness and not having achieved the good life yet, people tend to view you from a sense of pity. At work, people viewed Chis Gander differently. He wore the same to suits to work every day for a year. His coworkers joked that he was reenacting the civil war (Chris Gander, n.d.).

In the pursuit of happiness of a good life, people tend to come to assumptions concerning someone’s life and one is often alone in the beginning. Chris was homeless and had a toddler son to take of when he decided to attain a good life pursuing happiness. He said that nobody needed to know what was going on in his life and that it was okay for everyone to make assumptions (Chris Gander, n.d.). Juliet, the lottery winner, was going about her job. She did not expect the winnings, and it came as a shock. People started assuming that she would no quit her job and live a lavish lifestyle while all she wanted to do was live a simple life (Powerball Lottery Winner, n.d.). From Mr. Goodlife's timeline, we assume that he is living a good life without really knowing what is happening in his actual life, as he only concentrates on depicting the good life (Mr.Goodlife, 2020).

Conclusion

In conclusion, knowing the different perspectives concerning finding a good life in pursuing happiness has broadened my understanding of the topic. It has opened my mind up to the possibility of there not being a specific answer, as different stories tell different perspective of the same question. A good life may or may not be attainable in pursuing life happiness, and finding either or both will be a journey that may or may not be so appealing.

References

Chris Gander on the Pursuit of Happiness (n.d.) RTE. Retrieved on 7th October from https://youtu.be/bo4hq4Fy02k

Martin, M. W. Happiness and the Good Life. https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199845217.001.0001/acprof-9780199845217.

Mr.Goodlife. (2020) Retrieved on 7th October from https://instagram.com/mrgoodlife?igshid=u0ninfwyz2gx.

Powerball Lottery Winner (n.d.) ABC News. Retrieved on 7th October from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-WWMvlQBEU