The American Dream

Almost all people, when asked, will confess that one of their biggest goals in life is to be happy, but when does that dream start to have a detrimental effect on people? Barry Schwartz proposed the theory, “happiness as a byproduct of living your life is a great thing...but happiness as a goal is a recipe for disaster.” While this quote can be interpreted in various ways, it sends a compelling message that happiness as the sole objective in a person’s life leaves room for failure, can become very destructive, and is very fragile. While attempting to achieve happiness at all times can be extremely harmful, achieving happiness as general contentment instead can be a much healthier and more positive alternative which will result in a greater sense of prolonged happiness. …show more content…
Many individuals believe they will only obtain a sense of fulfillment once they are able to accomplish or gain something else. Countless individuals have the goal of becoming rich or famous one day, which is often regarded as the American dream. However, the amount of people that will actually be able to accomplish this goal is very slim comparatively. Too often, when they aren’t able to achieve their dream, they feel as though they have failed and as if they will never be able to achieve their goal. The room for failure that accompanies pursuing a dream is far too great of a risk and too unaccountable when the ultimate goal is happiness. If the person isn’t able to achieve happiness they will likely feel distraught and as though they have failed which can seem exceptionally discouraging when the consequence is a vital emotional outlook on life. Happiness is too crucial in numerous aspects of a person’s attitude and encounters to have the possibility of failing and when happiness becomes a goal it can be severely injurious to a