Choosing a path in life has become equivalent to choosing a life. We are raised to believe that we can do anything, but by the time we finish 12 or more years of school, we are told that we can only do one thing. After so long of never really living life, we are forced to know our place in the world and stick to it, doomed to never really living –– working jobs that don't matter for money we can't enjoy using... until we die.

The problem is that we are told at such a young age that we need to know who we are, but there is simply no time to do so, and definitely no time to make a few mistakes. You'll never find yourself buried within a textbook, pushing yourself to get that "dream job." You'll never know what you were meant to do in this life by playing a sport.

It is only when the noise dies down that we are able to see the bigger picture more clearly. The bigger picture is that in the grand scheme of things, we are minuscule beings on this earth for a very short amount of time. There is so much to see and do and explore that you'll never find in a 9-5 job, no matter how well it pays.

Through all the noise and traffic of life, we often forget that. We forget just how special every person, every animal, every plant and every bug is. We are clumps of cells given the chance to live a life.

You don't need to go to church or pray to some god to find something bigger than ourselves and the societal constructs we have created. For so many, that is actually counterproductive, bringing us further away from our goal.

The only way we can find our purpose is to try. Try everything, even if it doesn't stoke you and even if your parents don't approve. So often we are turned away by something because it doesn't light our insides on fire, but in reality, that feeling is so hard to come by. If you are not happy doing something, don't do it.

Complacency is admitting defeat, and it is coming to a standstill in life, but we need to remember that the world keeps turning. There is no written rule saying that we need to have a high-paying job, a nice house, and children--that isn't automatic happiness.

Happiness is failing and realizing that you can keep moving forward.

Happiness is discovering new things about yourself and the world.

Happiness is not conforming to what is the "right" and "wrong" ways of living.

Happiness is never settling because there is so much to see and understand and experience.

The search never needs to stop.