This series is NOT about the book "The Happiness Project." In fact, some of it might not even be happy at all. The idea stemmed from watching too many documentaries on happiness, reading too much, and being told I'm too cynical for my own good. Don't worry, these posts aren't going to be some dry science articles riddled with facts and scientific observations. Instead this series will focus on real-life ideas of happiness from people who inhabit this planet.
The goal is to interview as many people as possible. From young to wrinkly, funny to drab; all walks of life experience happiness, and it's up to us how we perceive it. While the first people in this series will be volunteers from the Marquette University community, eventually, I will be expanding to absolute random strangers. What better way to get a different perspective than to interview those who are different from you?
Each person in this installment will be asked three seemingly simple questions:
1. What does happiness mean to you?
2. How can the world become a happier place?
3. Personally, what makes you happy?
Down the rabbit hole of happiness we go.
Meet Mary Piotrowski. An Illinois native, Piotrowski is a junior at Northern Illinois University. She is currently majoring in Family and Child studies, with an emphasis in Family Social Services, ideally aiming to help families in need. Piotrowski hopes to be accepted into graduate school in the future, completing a master's degree in social work or counseling.
Not only does she want to help those around her, she also enjoys capturing it through a camera lens. In her free she time, she explores and takes pictures with her camera, as well as watches movies that makes her nostalgic.
But now onto the nitty gritty questions.
1. What does happiness mean to you?
"To me happiness means that for some point of time you are in complete bliss. To be happy you don't have to feel it all day every day, because no one is perfect. For me it could mean something big like getting a new job or something small like feeling the warm sun on your skin."
2. How can the world become a happier place?
"The world can become happier place if everyone can find what makes them happy and make it a point to never lose sight of it. Even just remembering what makes them happy can definitely make a difference in making the world a better place."
3. Personally, what makes you happy?
"What makes me happy is a lot of the small things in life. Sometimes when I'm having a really bad day and I'm driving...one of my favorite songs comes on the radio [that makes me happy]. I'm also happy sometimes when I'm alone. I like photography a lot so I'll go out by myself a shoot some photos. These are small personal things that make me happy and I know for others it's different, but we're all unique and that's what's important."
As usual, just remember that happiness is what you make of it. Comment below if you loved this idea, hated it, or even have something totally unrelated to say. Spread the happiness, people. If you are interested in being interviewed for this project, contact me at kathryn.best@marquette.edu.
