What Is A Happy Life Essay

2013 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Childhood as a social construct

There are some people who are not lucky enough to say that they had happy childhoods. The family used to live on a ranch in Delaware. Life was simple and sweet. The summers were warm, and we enjoyed trips to the beach and to the state fair. The winters were cold, but the holidays always had a way of warming everything up. Church was at 10 a.m. every Sunday, and Mom made home-cooked meals for dinner every night. I had a picture-perfect life, complete with a white-picket fence that surrounded our ranch. Those were the good days. Dad worked a lot to support the family, so he usually wasn’t around until dinnertime. Mom stayed at home raising us children and tending to the house and gardens. The carpets were always clean, with seemingly perfect …show more content…

My parents’ divorce physically separated the two of them and placed me in the middle of their sick game of tug-a-war. Mom and Dad on opposite sides of the rope, pulling me back and forth between their arguments. Once we had seemed so happy; now things seemed like a mess, and even my sunny picture of my old life was tainted with new memories. Divorce not only separated my once-stable family but also destroyed my entire perception of what I thought life was all …show more content…

With something like divorce, however, you don’t have any “family” left. All the sudden, it becomes more about each individual separately; there is no connection as a family unit anymore. Each member is dealing with their own struggles, following this change. They become solely too weak to even comfort themselves, let alone anyone else. Disbelief still floats through my veins, and I still sometimes wish they would just wake up one day and get back together, so everything could return to normal, become comfortable again. My body aches as I feel myself pulled in two distinct directions; I feel worried, lost and broken. The divorce left me questioning everything I thought I knew about trust, about life, about love. Everything that I thought I knew up until the divorce happened was apparently wrong, I thought. I began questioning everything I knew. I guess my parents weren’t that happy? I guess they weren’t best friends? I guess “till death do us part” was a lie? Or did something just happen in their minds, like a switch, to making them not want to be with each another anymore? I felt foolishly disturbed. Shell-shocked, even. I still couldn’t believe

Show More
Related

  • Divorce In Barbara Kingsolver's Essay 'Stone Soup'

    262 Words  | 1 Pages

    Society considers divorce as a failure and a destruction to a family unit when in reality divorce should be considered normal considering that the majority of families are blended or single parent homes. Barbara Kingsolver, an american novelist and essayist states her thoughts about divorce, blended and broken families in her essay titled “Stone Soup.” She argues that no family is perfect and that all families have problems. She uses examples, statistics and metaphors to persuade her readers of what a true family is. She informs us based on her own life experiences: her values, changes, and choices which ended in her divorce.

    Read More

  • The Persian Carpet Characters

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some families go through divorce, like the protagonist's’ mother and father did in the short story. The protagonist’s mother had threatened her husband that she would “pour kerosene over her body and set fire to herself if [the protagonist’s] father [didn’t] divorce her”. The narrator’s father had agreed to divorce his wife, because he was afraid that the mother would follow

    Read More

  • Divorce And Redefined Family Composition?

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States Census Bureau defines family as “a group [of] any two or more people (not necessarily including a householder) residing, together, and related by birth, marriage, or adoption. A household may be composed of one such group, more than one, or none at all. The count of family groups includes family households, related subfamilies, and unrelated subfamilies.” A family composition is redefined due to remarried families with stepchildren, single-parent households, or other family forms that are caused by divorce. This form of families also redefines the roles of each family member. However, children are the most affected by the separation of parents because of an overdependence on older siblings. Dr. Bren Neale and Dr. Jennifer Flowerdew, who are both affiliated with University of Leeds UK, carried out a research of children’s non-beneficial effects of divorced parents. As they stated in their academic article in “New Structures, New Agency: The Dynamics of Child-Parent Relationships After Divorce,” “sibling can play a significant ro...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Stone Soup By Barbara Kingsolver

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Divorce becomes unpleasing, but also the best option for the family. Kingsolver claims, “Disassembling a marriage in these circumstances is as much fun as amputating your own gangrenous leg. You do it if you can, to save a life-or two, or more.” (Kingsolver, 2014, p. 222). The majority of the time divorce takes place, it becomes a necessary break. Kingsolver describes divorce as amputating a gangrenous leg. The leg, if left intact, will slowly shut down the body. A family is considered a body, and each member of the family has responsibilities, such as the body. When a certain part of the body destroys the other parts, elimination rolls into effect to save the remaining family body. Not only does divorce lead to a broken bond in the spouses, it also leads to broken friendships. Rather than being shunned, divorced families should receive love. Kingsolver claims, “In the wake of my divorce, some friends (even a few close ones) chose to vanish.” (Kingsolver, 2014, p. ?). Kingsolver during, and after her divorce, lost many of what she believed were her best friends. Sadly, some friends decide to leave during a time when friends should be near; divorce, especially during the beginning, hurts. Why would anyone want to receive the outcomes of divorce, such as losing friends, and family? Divorce becomes necessary. Anyone, in his or her right mind, would only go

    Read More

  • Structural Family Therapy

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Divorce is and has become a major issue in our society, the reason for that has been attributed to the drastic increase in divorce rates over the years. Divorce often disrupts the flow of the family structure, increases discord, and affects how family issues are handled. Families dealing with divorce are often times in a state of complete confusion and disorder, and filled with frustration, anger, and pain. Power struggles between spouses, which often times spread to the children if there any increase as the addiction worsens. There is a growing concernment among those in different fields like Social Work, Academia, and Mental Health in the United States, other countries, who have taken an interest in how divorce is readjusting

    Read More

  • Essay On Divorced Families

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many families in the United States are separated or divorced. My family is a part of the divorce statistics. My mother and father divorced in 2001. I was four years old and my brother was two. My brother and I have to deal with the packing and the repacking of the bags every week. There was plenty of personal and social reasons behind the divorce. Some personal reasons were lack of commitment, too much arguing, marrying too young, and having kids at a young age. My parents got married at the age of 18. My mother had me at the age of 19, and she had my brother at the age of 21. That put a strain on their marriage, and that caused my parents to argue all the time. My father also worked all the time to support us. He was the only one with a job

    Read More

  • Divorce and Its Effect On Children

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wallerstein, J. S., & Lewis, J. M. (2004). The unexpected legacy of divorce: Report of a 25-year study. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 21(3), 353-370.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Happiness

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Singer discussed that “whatever money you're spending on luxurious not necessities, should be given away”, and to this I say a firm no. There is a limit to kindness I believe. Yes, what goes around comes around. If you're a good person, good things will occur to you, but there's a limit to how much a person can actually give. The limit of aid an individual can extend to, is till their happiness is compromised. So, an individual can donate half of their saving if they would like, but once giving extends to diminishing one’s happiness it is time to pull the plug. There is no benefit in giving to the less fortunate, if you are miserable. Yes, at the end of the day you are aiding x amount of children not to go hungry; but the extent of one’s happiness

    Read More

  • Faded Glory

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hatred between two people who once thought they would spend their entire lives together, the separation of what once was thought of as the perfect family, a financial burden for a person who once considered themselves well off. Divorce is known for its’ power to rip apart even the most picture perfect family. The idea of living alone with no one to wake up to in the morning or no one to share your stories with after a hard days work. In short, divorce can seem like an eternal wreckage of everything a person ever worked for. Quite often, after signing the papers though it’s realized that the high expectations of hatred and loneliness have turned into a new outlook on life. This outlook puts hope and excitement back into a before, mundane life. Those endless nights of yelling and screaming have now been replaced with a peaceful nights sleep that leads to a new day that is even better than the one before. In short, a divorce can seem like a second chance at life. There are three main areas to illustrate the positive image of divorce: new found happiness, individual freedom, and second chance at love. The first area to illustrate the positive image of divorce, as a second chance at life is ones new found happiness. Now that the worst half has been eliminated, one begins to realize that they have the time to do the things they like to do. No more, “ Honey could you clean the kitchen for me.” or “Honey could you run to the grocery store for a few things.” Now ones new life consists of, “Can I get you another beer.” and all you can eat buffets. No longer does the new bachelor have to come home early so he can get a good nights rest to help provide for his beautiful bride. Nights now consist of hanging out with old friends and telling stories of when they were young and wild. That new car also helps to raise the spirits that the beautiful bride said was too expensive and not economical. In short, the now single guy is a tight- ropewalker without the net.

    Read More

  • Children of Divorced Parents

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is unfortunate that marriages sometimes end and there are children caught in the middle of the marriage but it may be worst for the parents to stay together simply for the children’s sake. However when parents do divorce the children are the most effected by the divorce. Often enough the divorce causes children to feel displaced and also to have feelings that their world is coming to an end. These children tend to grow into adults with either extreme emotional detachment and self-esteem issues or they will have strong family values and try to prevent the cycle from repeating itself but the majority of these children grow up suffering from the divorce.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: The Influence Of Domestic Violence

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    She left and he stayed. Time to switch into “Daddy Mode.” No mentioning of Mama, no acting “rude,” no complaining about the food served for dinner –I can do this. Sure, giving my family the silent treatment helped but so did the unconditional support from my friends. I am still the “responsible” child, but I foster a seriousness mixed with a graceful gaiety; now, I even make dinner.

    Read More

  • Trauma Essay

    1741 Words  | 4 Pages

    Relationships hold people together but when they break they cause emotional turmoil. Divorce is cited as the most prevalent cause of trauma in the contemporary society. It is a life experience that causes trauma at intensities that only few other life experiences are able to yet it is not among the most frequently treated. Personal and emotional trauma linked to divorce determines how individuals in the society cope after they have undergone divorce. In cases of trauma caused by divorce, it involves the children and the breaking up spouses (Clarke-Stewart & Brentano, 2008).

    Read More

  • Happiness Definition Essay

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is the meaning of life? Is there a meaning of life? I think there is reason I was put on the earth, but what is it? Maybe I was meant to spend my days eating pizza rolls on the couch while watching National Treasure Book of Secrets and avoiding my other homework. If that is what it takes to make me happy then maybe that is the meaning of life. I think the meaning of life is happiness in any way, shape, or form. I think happiness is defined by each person and no two people need to have the same definition.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Happiness

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    Only 1 in 3 Americans are truly happy, and as of March 2017, The world happiness record has put America at number 14. The guiding principle of happiness is to take care of yourself along with the others around you and then Happiness will find its way to you. However, Critics believe the greatest weakness of happiness is the avoidance of sadness. Although I try to remain optimistic I still experience regularly both happiness and sadness. The argument for and against Happiness is that there are ways to make it a possible thing to achieve and once you get it, it makes you feel good inside. On another hand, being too happy all the time can be a detrimental concept. In the following Essay, I will be further explaining how happiness is a "good" and

    Read More

  • Meaningful Life Essay

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone 's goal in life is to make sure they live a meaningful life, it 's what makes people motivated and how they rate themselves. We all run into this quandary which has challenged philosophers, scientists, and a numerous amount of other people. ‘How do we live a full and meaningful life?’ No one has entirely figured out how to live a meaningful life, but there are several key points researchers have found that help people find their meaning and satisfaction in life. We need to know what 's important to us, pursue our passion, discover our life 's purpose, spend more on people than things, express ourselves and have courage, prioritize human connection with others, and know meaning and happiness

    Read More

More about What Is A Happy Life Essay

Open Document