Is Happiness Worth It?

TED TALKS! WOO! BEST. DAY. EVER.

Let me just say right off the bat, I. LOVE. TED. TALKS. I would most definitely campaign to make TED a tv series with a talk once or twice a week. If this dream of mine did come true, you would absolutely see me sitting on my couch, dachshund pajama pants on, a smoothie in hand, simply mesmerized by the speaker and their message. There's something about the way in which each speaker has such diverse perspective and purpose, yet deliver their speeches in such similar ways. The commonality yet versatility is continuously grabbing my attention, so much so that I have the TED app on my phone. And yes, instead of watching Grey's Anatomy, The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, and all the rest of the popular teen shows, I watch TED talks.

 Out of my love for TED talks, I am hoping for at least a 90, as I got an 89 last time. Grades smades. Happiness is the key! Moving on. You see why this blog post is the most exciting one yet. Emily Esfahani Smith explains society's everlasting search for happiness. Smith specifically hit on the idea of unhappiness stemming from the lack of meaning in life. People constantly are running after happiness as if it is a tangible item to be had. The overall argument being that, happiness, though seemingly tangible through simple acts, is greatly correlated to the meaning, but more importantly the balance of the "pillars" someone has in their life, which is the more fulfilling path to achieve true "happiness". The most important pillar, in connection to the categorization of storytelling, is in fact storytelling! This is the story that you tell yourself about yourself; Or in other words your self identity. She hits on this point by explaining the story of a paralyzed, football retiree named Emeka. Emeka explains how initially after the accident he felt as if his life was good and now it's bad, but later on came to a realization of the impact that the accident had on his overall perspective on himself. Emeka realized that before the injury he simply carried a life without purpose and now has redeemed himself to be the better version of what he was before. Storytelling is what carries your life in a positive or negative direction. Furthermore, the story continued Emily Esfahani Smith hit on the other three: belonging, purpose, and transcendence. Belonging being valued by others for who you are, while also valuing others, purpose meaning using your strengths to serve others, and lastly transcendence, which are the instances when you lose all sense of time and place due to loss of self-absorption. Smith illustrates the necessities of a happy life being the way you look at yourself and others, what you do with your life, and how you view the world. Smith's purpose was to simply distinguish between happiness in the moment and happiness in life. 

I think I'll hit on pathos first, due to the fact that the talk is purely revolved around happiness, an emotion so often reached for. Smith's constant questioning of the audience to further develop her argument of what it takes to be happy pulls at the audience's emotions and perspective. In regards to the most important pillar, storytelling, Smith states "You can do it on your own, too, just by reflecting on your life thoughtfully, how your defining experiences shaped you, what you lost, what you gained." This implements in the audience a feeling of courage to go out and do what they want to do and need to do with their life to fulfill happiness. She continuously breaks down her argument into a sort of checklist that the audience can obtain and utilize to work towards their goals. Furthermore, Smith states "Happiness comes and goes. But when life is really good and when things are really bad, having meaning gives you something to hold on to." This statement automatically implements in the audience a feeling of hope in the sense and engages them to reevaluate themselves.

Emily Esfahani Smith being a on TED automatically makes her considerably justified in her words. Though to further her credibility, Smith attended graduate school to study positive psychology, where she first got interested in what makes people happy. Along with that, right off the bat, before introducing her argument, Smith explains the extensive research she did to create her argument. First hand research was done in the ways of defining the meaning of words such as happiness and meaning to get a grip on what exactly she was researching. Later Smith ran through interviews and read psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy books to better understand. All of these characteristics of her speech, in my opinion, make her an unquestionably intelligent and trustworthy person.

Lastly, logos was present more than enough. One of the first pieces of evidence Smith presented was "the suicide rate has been rising around the world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America. Even though life is getting objectively better by nearly every conceivable standard, more people feel hopeless, depressed, and alone." This initial evidence to create not only thought in the audience but also a strong argument for Smith. The juxtaposition of improvements in quality of life to increased depression and anxiety is quite the interesting statement to grasp the audiences attention and curiosity to learn more. Smith continues to explain personal stories to support each pillar in a way that only strengthens her argument. Towards the end of the speech, Smith explains a personal story that had to do with her life growing up. Her parents ran a Sufi group and instructed Sufism in their home while Smith was growing up. Sufism is essentially "serving all of creation through small acts of love" which Smith then stated "which meant being kind even when people wronged you. This way of life was implemented in Smith early on and she saw it throughout her life. She explains how her dad had a heart attack and almost died, but didn't. Smith states, in her dad's opinion, "sense of belonging within his family, his purpose as a dad, and his transcendent meditation, are the reasons he survived. This evidence of happiness, that supports her argument of her pillar theory, furthermore supports the development of her whole argument.

Personally, like I said earlier, I love TED talks. When I do go to watch a TED talk, I find myself watching talks on similar topics such as happiness, relationships, and life itself, hence why I chose to watch this one. I am continuously intrigued as to why people are the way they are (forever wish I took AP psych). Why people think, act, look, and talk is such a mystery to me to this day. Why are boys the brain dead in high school? Why do people care what others think of them? Why are people are so negative? Why do girls copy everything other girls do? I will never understand. No matter how much reading and watching I do, I am going to be confused until I die. I swear. But back to the TED talk. I am a creative person who loves to draw, paint, go to any type of museum, read, and so many other things that most people my age are not into. I love to learn, but only things I'm interested in, hence why I am not a fan of IB history or IB ITGS. When I was scrolling through my options of TED talks to watch for this assignment, I was determined to find one I would without a doubt love. The title of There's more to life than being happy grabbed my attention automatically and I was deep into reading and listening to Emily EsfahanI Smith speak. Boy am I glad I chose to watch her. Most of the texts we have read in english class, specifically The Handmaid's Tale and Never Let Me Go, display a dystopian societies that are structured to provide unwavering happiness and content, but never actually do. The citizens are always upset with their lives but don't know any way to fix it. That concept is all too similar to our society today. Happiness is so overly searched for and chased, that it's almost intangible. I personally, have worked very hard to do things in my life, similar to what Smith believed, to make my life a happy and satisfying one. I consider myself a much happier person due to the fact that I have been able to identify what makes me happy and do those things.

(^ I have no idea how to fix the sizing)
Comments!
Anne Ross- I always LOVE reading your blogs!Personally, I love reading stuff like Sarah Kay too. I could definitely see your personal involvement in the TED talk you chose and I loved reading it. You might be the best writer in our grade. Career option? I hope so. Anyways, GOOD JOB!

Megan Proudfoot- GOOD JOB MEG! I love to see how much you care and work towards something you love. This TED talk is totally something I can see you being a part of in the coming years. You went into great detail analyzing the TED talk to further understanding and I was very interested. Loved the blog this week!

https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_esfahani_smith_there_s_more_to_life_than_being_happy/transcript#t-726289