I think I may have answer my question from the other day..

[zmtd8]

Here is the link in case you missed it or just so you won't get confused:

Short Answer: I am young and ignorant.

Long answer: I think it is a complete inability for a human being to be happy. We no longer have anything to strive for because everything is so readily available and pretty much handed to us on a silver platter, therefore we are constantly wanting more. We want more of something, anything, everything because we believe that more of something will bring us happiness. Unlike back in the day (which sadly, I was not part of) when just enough was enough to keep someone happy forever. When I say back in the day, I mean way way way back in the day when happiness was not the first thing on anyone's list, but survival was. They worked hard for what the had and if they didn't they died or their family was miserable. This is still obtainable. You can go work a long hard day and at the end of the day you may hate your job, but still you get that amazing feeling of accomplishment and/or pride when you go home. This is all I have came up with so far. I am sure there is plenty more that I am missing.

[Guest AmericanWorkMule]

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

What you wrote is profound, like Henry David Thoreau felt the obsessive drive for wealth has oddly enough depreciate the lives of people in this rat race, making them unable to appreciate the simpler pleasures described in his book Walden.

[StPatrick]

You can go work a long hard day and at the end of the day you may hate your job, but still you get that amazing feeling of accomplishment and/or pride when you go home.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with that statement. True hardship, the way it was defined a couple generations ago, is so scarce in this country, even in the worst and poorest areas, that "hunger is the best sauce" doesn't hold true the way it might have when scarcity of necessities, as opposed to desired objects, was a regular feature of life. Satisfaction, not satiation, is where I've found my happiness. A job well done, learning a new skill or improving an old one, teaching someone else how to do something better, lending a helping hand, fixing a problem, be it a leaky pipe or a sh#tstorm at work all provide satisfaction and a legitimate reason to be proud of yourself and your actions.

On the other hand, andy new gizmo will be replaced by a better one, and human nature says you'll be filled with want again when it is. Satiation is temporary. I figure building myself, or business, other people, or even a doghouse is less temporary. I'll have my learnings and experiences and stories until I'm crapping my pants and I'm somebody else's problem.

[gregintenn]

My friend, you are on the right track. You need to stop calling yourself ignorant and childish. I wish I'd have been as mature as you seem to be at 23. Then, the only happiness I looked for was found in a cooler or between a girl's thighs.

[zmtd8]

My friend, you are on the right track. You need to stop calling yourself ignorant and childish. I wish I'd have been as mature as you seem to be at 23. Then, the only happiness I looked for was found in a cooler or between a girl's thighs.

Haha. I still have a long way to go. Plus I am not saying I don't have fun or even that I am not happy. I am talking more along the lines of lasting happiness.

[zmtd8]

What you wrote is profound, like Henry David Thoreau felt the obsessive drive for wealth has oddly enough depreciate the lives of people in this rat race, making them unable to appreciate the simpler pleasures described in his book Walden.

'

I haven't read Thoreau since high school. Big fan of Frost also.

[enfield]

Thoreau was a parasite. As a kid, with no accomplishments, he built a shack on someone else's land with free materials and felt qualified to lecture the rest of us - sort of an "Occupy Walden Pond". Just my opinion of that hippie - feel free to make it yours.

Returning to the topic - you're wrong. Happiness is possible, at least for some people.

[zmtd8]

I think you've hit the nail on the head with that statement. True hardship, the way it was defined a couple generations ago, is so scarce in this country, even in the worst and poorest areas, that "hunger is the best sauce" doesn't hold true the way it might have when scarcity of necessities, as opposed to desired objects, was a regular feature of life. Satisfaction, not satiation, is where I've found my happiness. A job well done, learning a new skill or improving an old one, teaching someone else how to do something better, lending a helping hand, fixing a problem, be it a leaky pipe or a sh#tstorm at work all provide satisfaction and a legitimate reason to be proud of yourself and your actions.

On the other hand, andy new gizmo will be replaced by a better one, and human nature says you'll be filled with want again when it is. Satiation is temporary. I figure building myself, or business, other people, or even a doghouse is less temporary. I'll have my learnings and experiences and stories until I'm crapping my pants and I'm somebody else's problem.

I would have loved to live in the time where your life depended and others depended on you. Everything you had, you either made or bartered for with skills or wares you had to offer. Seems like it would have been a simpler time.

[gregintenn]

Here's a cheesy quote that has meant a lot to me through the years:

"Success isn't the destination; it's the journey."

I suppose you could replace the word "success" with "happiness".

[UncleJak]

Wake up in the morning and admire the world round you.

[Guest Old goat]

I would have loved to live in the time where your life depended and others depended on you. Everything you had, you either made or bartered for with skills or wares you had to offer. Seems like it would have been a simpler time.

Be very careful what you wish for

[Guest bkelm18]

You're only happy if you want to be happy, IMO. Happiness isn't something that you achieve, it's something that you become. If you go through life thinking you'll never attain it, well then guess what, you'll never attain it.

[tnhawk]

My friend, you are on the right track. You need to stop calling yourself ignorant and childish. I wish I'd have been as mature as you seem to be at 23. Then, the only happiness I looked for was found in a cooler or between a girl's thighs.

Both of those were the roadblocks to being happy!

[Ed Zachary]

I think it is a complete inability for a human being to be happy....I am sure there is plenty more that I am missing....

Maybe from your point of view. But remember, you do not, you cannot, see things from everyone else's viewpoint nor can you experience life as anyone else can.