Assignment 19 - Thomas Noll

While vague and somewhat ridiculous, the advice to not pursue happiness directly has no doubt had a great effect on me. The goal is counter-intuitive, but the idea is that if you always preoccupy yourself with reaching the "prize" of happiness, and resign to dash towards the easiest source of gratification, you will be left always on the edge of emptiness. You will be like a drug addict who takes no pleasure from his hit but is hopelessly doomed to go through with it. Instead, one would be wise to abandon the achievement of joy altogether.
Laying on a messy bedroom floor, the blinds drawn, sitting in shadows with a headache, browsing the hole of the internet. That sense that you have to pee but you cant bring yourself to get up, you have done nothing all day. There is an abundance of distracting things to do in your spot on the floor, each swipe on Instagram reveals a new post that is far more compelling and effortless than standing up, opening the window, drinking water, and finishing that book. Happiness is less immediate when sitting up in a chair, exerting energy to think and move. The floor still beckons like a black hole. But when you finally go to bed, a day spent on your feet will always feel more worthwhile than on the ground.
Straining yourself to resist these direct temptations of ease and gratification is not a cure to depression, or even unhappiness. It sucks, its hard, its not fun. You're doing the opposite of what you suppose would make you happiest. But in the same way it takes consistent exercise to build muscle, it takes the maintained effort of these little improvements to your life to be truly satisfied, or at the very least, a little bit happier.