CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

I feel like everyone goes through a phase like this. Like having a curiosity of a child questioning, investigating, and searching, yet the answers are not so obvious this time. Our parents unable to give us a straight answer. Some answer it with a cheesy reply. We all know there’s some truth to the answers they give. What is the meaning of life.

In the back of my mind I think I always knew what it was for me, yet up till this point in my life I’ve never been challenged to explain my understanding of this thing we all do and exist in. I won’t deny that I’m a selfish person, but I think we all have to be to live a life. So really, what do I think is the meaning of life? Or to make it not sound so cliché, what gets you up every morning?

If you’re expecting some new, revolutionary, life changing answer then buddy you’re looking in the wrong place. For me what gets me up every morning is happiness. Now, as some of you may know I am definitely not a morning person. So, I’m not talking about how waking up in the morning makes me happy, cause it definitely doesn’t. Rather, when I say happiness it is the pursuit of happies which gets me up in the morning. If I don’t wake up I can’t go ride my bike and if I don’t ride my bike I’m not happy, so if I want to be happy I just need to wake up and go ride my bike, easy.

That’s all it is. How do you know what makes you happy? Well, its easy really. As you grow older you’ve slowly and slowly tried more things and out of those things you tried there surly are a few things that made you happy. Some more then others but that’s fine, now go do them. But, at the same time never stop trying new things, because you might come across new things that make you happy. Then you can add that to the repertoire.

Next thing you know you have a list of things that make you happy. Some more then others, but at the same time some takes more effort then others. So, you need to balance things out. For me going to a café makes me a little happy but its easy to do so I do it constantly, but then going to the mountains makes me really happy but it takes a lot more time and effort so I don’t get to do it as often but it makes me really happy so in my opinion it makes it worth it.

Ask me 20 years later and I’m almost certain that this part would’ve changed but for now hear me out. One thing that I always made sure is to not rely too much happiness on others. Like I said earlier, people are selfish and if you rely too much of your happiness on another individual its only a matter of time until they let you down, when that happens BOOM your wold comes crashing down. At least that’s what I’ve learnt from pop culture and a bit of real life experience.

This simple idea is what keeps me getting out of bed every day, although many things don’t directly lead me to happiness at least I believe that in the long run it will lead me to happiness so I keep doing it. Easy. But at the same time I see so many people who seem to be stuck in a constant cycle where they stop trying new things, keep only having ol’reliable to make them happy. But let me tell you from experience, eventually things change and you need to change with it.

Let me tell you what the issue is with this stupid “idea” or “theory” or whatever the heck you want to call it. This comes from a privileged 20-year-old kid living in one of the easiest, safest places to live in the world. Lets be real, there are people a short 8 hr plane ride away who are starving, fighting for their lives, yet here I sit explaining how people should be looking for happiness. Who the fuck does this guy think he is. He’s never had to run for his life. Wonder where the next meal is coming from. Avoid war zones. Survive. At least for now happiness is why I get up in the morning, but I sure hope I find a better one.