Pursuit of Happiness

As these days pass form one to the next I try and remind myself what this country is based on, what principles have built it into what it is. I can't think of a more better passage from the Declaration of Independence then: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It says it plane as day, right there on a document that our founding fathers saw fit to put in there some 236 years ago. The very thing that thousands of people come to this country for. If it is written then it should be, why is it so hard to achieve sometimes. Why is it that some of us struggle, day in and day out and never really make it anywhere? Never fully reach or even be allowed to chase our own purist of happiness.

I used to think that happiness was a thing that was earned, earned from hard work, earned from sacrifices made to survive, and earned from those that you love. These days it just seems like the harder I work at things, the farther they get from me, always with-in my grasp, just never able to hold it. I'm sure that I'm not the only one that feels this way. From here on out there is nothing but up for me, my career is in my hands now, my education is in my hands now, there is no one controlling my life from here on out but me.

That's why I propose to never except a NO from here on out, never sit back and wait for an opportunity on things, but instead to make those opportunities happen. For I truly believe that luck favors not the fortunate, but those that are prepared, those that are looking at the world as they play ground, not as an enemy. Looking at a struggle as what it is, a learning lesson. I was once told, "To go out in a day and learn nothing, is to have wasted a day." We need to go out into the world every single day and look at what is before us, look for every opportunity to better ourselves in some way. It could be so simple as reading a blog about stress, or watching how someone does something different, or taking a course on a way to better yourself at your job to get that promotion. Being proactive in your life!!!

This can be applied to all aspects of life, children, marriage, work, and self. So maybe the pursuit of happiness isn't so much as what we have, but maybe what it is. Life is full of fears,"If I ask for a raise, will I get fired, should I shoot for that new position, if I try this, will I get this result..." and on and on. The way that I see it is, that the greatest risk in life is never taking any risks, people let their fears wall them in, to afraid to jump at something cause it might fail in the end. The point is, you never really know until you try. Like Thomas Edison said when asked about failure in creating the light build, he said "I have not failed, not once, I have just discovered a thousand ways that won't work." he also goes on to state that he is not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

I could go on and on about Thomas Edison, for he makes many good points on life, perseverance, and persistence. In fact we can look at all the great men and women before our time and see that just by them not giving up, not excepting failure, and not listening to others; that we wouldn't have half the stuff we have today. The most important thing to get out of this is to not allow oneself to feel less of a person, and to always chase your dreams, chase what you want in life, for it's short. Everybody dies, but not many people get to live, it's your life, live it how you want to, and push yourself to always do better. Improve on one thing about yourself everyday, everything else will fall into place.

Always remember, after every dark night, there's a bright day; after every mistake there's a chance to learn and fix it; if you should fall, pick yourself up and try again.