On Happiness

Happiness is a multifaceted concept— on one hand, happiness is an emotion activated when neurochemicals interact with our body; on the other, it is a social construct (but don't get me wrong; I don't mean to come off as overly pessimistic when I say this.) 

Happiness is an intangible concept that's been ingrained in our heads from a young age: Sleeping Beauty experienced it when she found her Prince Charming; I experienced it when I streamed the illustrious Harry Styles album Fine Line for the very first time; we all experienced it when we opened our Duke admissions decisions. In that manner, it's impossible to separate happiness from our own perspectives and our own biases– at root, what makes us happy besides the things that society tell us lead to a happy ending? 

As a child, I was under the perception that my life trajectory would be simple. My Asian immigrant parents echoed in me the very hallmarks of a happy life: I would attend a prestigious college, I would go to medical school, I would settle down after a few years of hustle-and-bustle to start a family with my wife. Things didn't turn out that way— first of all, I'm not pre-med; second of all, I'm gay. Happiness is such a social construct in the sense that it's repackaged, commodified and sold to us to fit comfortably into our narratives of tradition and expectation: for my parents, that meant pursuing the all-too-perfect narrative of the Asian-American model minority doctor. 

As to how I define happiness, I'm not exactly sure. That's a difficult and overwhelmingly complex question. As a college freshman I am torn between different narratives of happiness that I've seen in my life: do I want to live out my corporate intern life as depicted in Devil Wears Prada? or do I want to be a well-respected journalist that graduates college with an unpaid internship? or do I want to marry rich? I'm still navigating my own ethical codes, value systems, and moral philosophies; so how do I know what will bring me this intangible, picture perfect concept of happiness? I guess I'll figure that out in the next four years.