Happiness: A Guide for the Hopeless.

Paul Komskis
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:52:45 +0000

"Hector and the Search for Happiness" was a movie I saw a year ago. I was in a state of loss and didn't really understand how I was going to proceed with my life. Some late night I stumbled upon this hidden gem of a movie on Netflix. Reading the title itself caught my attention and had me thinking that this would be the movie to get me out of this mental slump that many my age have felt or are feeling.

Hector was an average upper-middle class man working a 9-5 job with a stunning home and a beautiful wife. While his life may seem like a dream for some, something wasn't quite right for Hector. Every morning was the same routine, same breakfast, same drive to work, same coffee, and the same repetitive job as every single other day of his life. Something snapped within him this morning. He realized this was not the way to proceed with his life if he truly wanted to be happy. What is happiness though? Was it money? Was it love? Or maybe it was something entirely different and that is where his journey to achieve true happiness began. He told his wife he was leaving to discover what it was that true happiness meant. That is where this breathtaking journey begins.

Over his journey he decides to compile a list of observations that would help him understand what it means to be happy. I won't include every one of the fifteen points he makes, but I'll touch on a few that connected to me the most. Also, for the sake of spoilers, I won't include too much actual plot, so that you lovely people out there can watch it with the same feeling of awe that I had when I first saw this masterpiece. The list starts off with "Making comparisons can spoil your happiness."

This applies to a huge aspect of social distress we as people have in our current society. All anyone does today is compare themselves to people who have unattainable qualities and we forget that we have qualities within ourselves that can make us just as great, if not greater than those we look up to. True happiness is knowing that the best version of you is still coming and will mean more to you than anything else on this planet.

The next point on the list I would like to touch on would be number 3 "Many people only see happiness in their future."

Now this is a fairly common thought. When one looks at the present we only see what we think we will achieve in the future but lose sight of what we are achieving in the present. Living for the present is a key to finding happiness in your life. Trying to live for the future will continuously let you down, for no one knows what inevitable events will take place tomorrow.

The last one I will comment upon really gets to me even at this point. This last one is simply "Sweet Potato Stew!" Amazing isn't it? So simple, so little, so unexciting, or so it may seem. Little may you know, that is the entire point. This sweet potato stew was a symbol of family, love, unity, and tranquility for Hector. This stew allowed him to realize that the smallest things can make even the most foreign of places seem like home. Now this stew isn't just a symbol for all the little things, oh no. This stew symbolizes mankind as a whole. We are all these different ingredients place into a single pot and with all our ideas, all of our aspirations. By ourselves, we are nothing but insignificant specs but together we create something far greater that anything we can imagine.

Now, if you have made it this far into my little review and analysis, I would like to leave you with this. Happiness is something no one can teach or buy. It is something one can only find within themselves by seeing through the negativity that surrounds them. Everyday opportunities come for you to be happy and every day you have to take advantage of those opportunities. Now, good luck on everything you are dealing with and definitely check out Hector and Search for Happiness when you get the chance, if it is still on Netflix.