the prospect of happiness - are we happy?

After watching Bo Burnham's Happy, some questions have been brought to my attention in how our lives conduct themselves. Everyone strives for happiness - surely that is the ultimate goal - but what does it mean?

A definition in a dictionary would describe happiness as -
                        "A state of being happy - feeling or showing pleasure or contentment"
- however, a dictionary seems too formal and wooden for something that is seemingly spiritual in nature.

There is also the case of the societal norms that everyone is supposed to want and go after and they are supposed to make you happy - you're supposed to get a good education, grow up and have the job of your dreams (that pays well), buy a house, meet someone and get married, have a family, grow old. Is that what being happy is? This is what we are told frmm a young age.

Let's look at this from a different perspective - think about what makes you happy right now at this point in your life. I can almost guarantee that it is completely different to the person sitting next to you, or the person walking past you. The fact is that everyone is looking for  different things that would make them personally happy.

Right now, what makes me happy are my family and friends. They are all extremely supportive and fun to be around and I'm happy when I'm around them. And I am very happy.

I suppose, in a way, it would make me happy to get the job I want, to have a family, etc. But I also quite fancy myself as an explorer! I've wanted to travel the world since I was very young because it's the adventure of a lifetime and, in my mind, who wouldn't want to trek around the continents, experiencing different cultures, seeing different landmarks and living in a way that really matters, making a difference. But I don't necesarily know if that will make me happy, even though I think it would. You never know, I could be miserable. But I don't know unless I try, and, if I never try, I will regret it for the rest of my life.

The truth is, we don't know what happiness is and we don't know what will make us happy. Really, we only know that something makes us happy after experiencing it. We hope it will, but sometimes we are wrong. The only thing we can do in this life is jump out of our comfort zone and discover different things because that is the only way you can be happy. No one can predict their own happiness or what causes it - you just have to make it happen and find out along the way for yourself what happiness is to you.