The Happiness of Pursuit

There's this movie called Hector and the Search for Happiness. In the film, a guy (Hector) goes on a quest to figure out the meaning of happiness. I watched it in 2020 and really liked it. But I never entirely understood what the movie was trying to say about happiness until a month ago. The protagonist, Hector, notes different meanings of happiness throughout the film, which all make sense. Here's a few of them:

Lesson no. 1: Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

Lesson no. 2: Happiness often comes when least expected.

Lesson no. 6: Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains.

Lesson no. 8: Happiness is being with the people you love.

But the actual important part of the meaning of happiness comes at the end.  And Hector realises that, too. In the end, Hector realises that happiness is not just one emotion. It's all of them. And this is precisely what I realised a month ago. 

We can think of happiness as small happiness and big happiness. Small happiness results as a product of some activity, which is momentary. Big happiness is happiness as a state of being. And this big happiness cannot result from the pursuit of happiness but only with the happiness of pursuit, where we experience all the emotions.

When I think about the times I felt happiness as a state of being in the past few years, I realized that almost all of them were associated with pursuing something. For example, the pursuit of going on a solo trip to Europe. Planning the whole trip, getting the visa, and handling the logistics of everything else was stressful. Even during the trip, there were stressful times. But everything, from planning a year ahead to the actual 3 weeks in Europe, made me feel almost all the emotions. I felt big happiness. I felt alive. The same applied when I was busy preparing for the exam to get into grad school in 2019. It was the pursuit of getting into grad school. It gave me something to look forward to. It made me feel stressed. But it also gave me that joy when I would do well while preparing. I felt alive. During COVID, I just felt empty. I didn't know what to do. There was no pursuit. And I didn't quite feel happy. 

I am not sure if it applies to everyone, but I have realized that for me, happiness means the pursuit of things and chasing dreams. Even though it can be sad, stressful, and hard, I often enjoy pursuing something. It makes me feel alive. And this realization has helped me deal with day-to-day stress. Whenever it gets too hard or stressful, I try to tell myself that it's about the happiness of pursuit and not the pursuit of happiness. It doesn't immediately make things easier or make the problems go away. But it makes me feel content that I am working towards what I want. For me right now, it's the pursuit of doing well in PhD, becoming a good researcher, becoming fitter and going to Patagonia at the end of the year! 

I hope this makes sense to someone and helps them figure out happiness.