Ciardi's Happiness
... my best bet. Sometimes it is necessary to forgo these things to meet other more important short-term goals. It could be within my ability to play a video game and not go broke or lose sleep, but my time might be better spent studying for an upcoming test or preparing a speech for work. Getting a good grade on a test brings a different, more fulfilling happiness, and affects my overall happiness. When I look at my life as a whole, I could say, “I’m happy!” or “I’ve been better.” This emotion I’m referring to as happiness is a collective effect of a bunch of short-term goals as they relate to my future. If my short-term goals are pointing me in the direction to meet my long-term goals, I’m happy. One of my long-term goals is to have financial stability and only a home mortgage as debt. Ciardi says that advertisements in America are made to make us unhappy by putting us into debt. He says that car dealers tell us to, “buy [cars] at once, with money they did not have, automobiles they did not really need, and which they would be required to grow tired of by the time next year’s models were released (189).” Ciardi is very correct in this statement, though, from my experience, he is talking to the majority of Americans who live beyond their means. It isn’t necessary to drive a new car every year. My family has driven the same used cars for 6 years now. They work and are nice cars in good shape. Why buy a new car when what we have already works, and works well? We also buy them outright. By living within our means and only buying the item when we have the money without payments, we have control of our financial stability. I understand that isn’t always possible, and isn’t possible for a lot of people, but there is no need to buy a new car every year, especially if you don’t have the money. So we’ve seen that the achievement of goals causes happiness. If this is indeed true, then in the end, it is important to set reasonable expectations of yourself. To set goals too high is to set yourself up for disappointment and failure. There is a difference between goals that are too high and goals that difficult, yet achievable. Ciardi says: “We demand difficulty even in our games…It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to change the wholly arbitrary rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules (191).” The key then, is to “try to set some extremes to the idea and then work in toward the middle (190...