Well it wouldn’t be some sort of stereotypical college experience if I didn’t have a life reevaluating moment brought on by some small talk during my philosophy class.

So recently in my Death and the Meaning of Life class (Sounds like Oodles of fun, I know.) has gotten to the point where we’re discussing the value of life. At some point last week, our discussion veered onto the hedonistic view of life which measures one’s life quality based on the levels of pain (bad) and pleasure one experiences. Yada, yada, philosophical jargon, awkward small heart attacks induced by squirrels on window ledges and note taking has the discussion go by and then we get to talking about the qualitative vs. quantitative pleasures in life. If you couldn’t tell, this part caught my interest.

I understood the discussion like so: A quantitative pleasure are the ones that you keep track of the quantity, or number, of times you’ve experienced this pleasure in life. I like to think of this like winning competitions or some varied form of success acknowledgement. It’s a feeling you want to experience over and over because it’s just pleasant and makes you feel better about life. A qualitative pleasure is the type of pleasure that the feeling has you riding such a high because it was so invigorating and worth it that the experience holds a special spot in your life. This would be like finding that kind of happy memory strong enough to produce a patronus that could take on all those dementors at the lake like in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Now recently I undertook the 100 Days of Happy challenge on Instagram after seeing a family friend try it last year. It was one of the best experiences of my life honestly. At first, I took pretty tame pictures. Like pictures of food or random things that made me happy. Nothing too bad, but as time went on, I realized that I made myself happier because I stopped trying to just fulfill a quota of taking pictures of cool things I saw. I started doing things and going on adventures that were worth being happy about. Ironically I stopped looking for things to be happy about and I just went for it.

The entire span of time I spent on that challenge I grew so much as a person because happiness is something we all deserve, but more than anything it’s something we won’t just find randomly landing on our laps. At least not the kinds of happiness that can have you riding an emotional high for months on end. Every single day during that 100 day challenge changed me for the better. I found it easier to take pictures of things that made me happy because I didn’t let myself give up and let a day be bad. I vastly improved my life because I looked for happiness that truly could keep me going through the roughest of days.

I did so much that summer that I know my life won’t ever be the same. I rediscovered my dream and chased after it like never before. I was rewarded for having that passion and reaffirmed that I’m doing the right thing with my life because I’m not trying to just adhere to fulfilling certain quotas to be considered successful and happy. Chasing my dreams and staying true to myself is one of the most crucial things I’ve ever learned to better my life.

I do honestly think I have some hedonistic philosophical tendencies, especially when it comes to evaluating the value of life. But since becoming a hedonist with a preference for a pursuit of qualitative pleasures? Every little moment and action has just become all the more important to me.

Who knew a silly little challenge could be so impactful? My life has never been richer than during that challenge. I did so many things that I can’t believe to this day. I met one of my favorite YouTubers. I met some of the cast of my favorite webseries. I went to Canada and fell in love with Toronto. I got confident enough to take selfies even though I feel like an awkward potato 900% of the time. But most of all, I learned to look at the world in a different light.

I’d like to think that at the end of the day, the big success is that I want to keep getting better to make somewhat more of an impact on this world. Even the tiniest ripple can make all the difference, but brace yourselves because I plan to make some waves.