I recently watched the 2006 film "The Pursuit of Happyness." The spelling of the word "happyness" was intended because the word is a misnomer, often misspelled by replacing the "i" in "happiness" with a "y," as it was graffitied on the side of a building in the film. During the film, the main character, Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, details his journey toward pursuing happiness. His journey made me reevaluate my own journey and how I define happiness.

I do not believe that lifelong happiness exists. It is never there for long. There are struggles. There are difficulties. There are broken relationships. There are friendships that come to an end. And no matter how hard you try, how much effort you make, what you do, who you are, how much money you have, what kind of car you drive or how big your house is, lifelong happiness doesn't exist.

Happiness may be a short-term thing, just like tunnel vision. You see what you want to see. You hear what you want to hear. You know what you want to know. You believe what you want to believe. You can find happiness for a short period of time and then you receive a bill in the mail, or your car breaks down, or you get laid off from your job or a friendship comes crashing down. When faced with obstacles, you soon discover that happiness doesn't exist for more than a day, a week, a month or even a few years.

Finding happiness is a difficult task. You may buy a new car and be happy for a few minutes, but then the first bill arrives. How happy are you now? Or you might be overjoyed about the purchase of your first house, but then the furnace dies, a light blows out, the pavement in your driveway cracks and you find out your neighbor is a crackhead. At that point, your happy times come to a crashing halt.

The purpose of this article isn't to bring you down, put you in a depressive funk or destroy any positive hopes or dreams you have for a happy future. It's just a way to point out the plain truth: happiness exists for a short period of time. and then without warning, it comes to a burning, crashing halt.

The pursuit of happiness may exist when you meet your first boyfriend or girlfriend. You're so in love and think you've found the one until you are left wondering what the hell you did wrong. You sit and ponder it for a day, a week, a month or a year, until you find your next relationship. You think, "Maybe this relationship will work out and I'll get my happily ever after?" Wrong. That line is bullshit. There isn't a "happily ever after." It lasts for a short period of time. Then a bill comes due. Your car blows up. You get the tax bill on your house. You have to pay rent. You miss a paycheck. You get sick. Your dog dies. Whatever the case may be, happiness exists for a short period of time and then the bomb drops and that happy day ends. You just sit there and wait until tomorrow and hope like hell that tomorrow is a happier and better day.

When you wake up in the morning, you should count yourself lucky; you should be happy because you're alive. If you didn't wake up in the morning, it wouldn't matter; you wouldn't be there to enjoy the day or even experience another day of life and happiness wouldn't matter.

If you have a house, you should be happy. if you have a wife, a husband, a kid or a dog, you should be happy. If you are breathing, living, walking, talking, seeing and hearing, you should be happy. If you drive an expensive car and look cool while doing it, you should be happy. If you own a house or even just cable TV, you should be happy. A lot of people don't have any of those things. A lot of people have to get food stamps, Medicaid, free insurance or beg, borrow and steal to live from one week to the next.

So no matter how you look at it, happiness may last for a minute, an hour, a day, a week or a year, but the pursuit of happiness never ends. Everyone wants something. Everyone wants someone. Everyone wants something more. And everyone wants what they can't have. Until they have it. And then to find happiness? They go looking for more.