Firsthand experience Essay

Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes. What makes you happy may not make someone else happy. The idea of happiness may not be the same for any two people, or maybe not for anyone you come across with. Happiness is an emotion causes by thousands of things. It is an abstract idea that cannot be fully described. What makes you happy changes as you get older, you do not like the same things your whole life so it is normal that your interests start to change. Like mentioned before not everyone has the same interests and cannot feel happiness from the same things. From firsthand experience I can say that I am the perfect example of finding different happiness. They have changed from my years in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Let’s start with elementary school. When I was in elementary school what brought me happiness was having time to spend at my friend’s house after school. Because I lived far away from the school that I attended I didn’t really know anyone in my neighborhood. There were days though that my parents would let me go to a friend’s house and stay there for a few hours while they got out of work. I didn’t have to be at my grandma’s house bored so that made me really happy, and I had a lot of fun while I was there so that made it even better. Another thing that made me feel happiness was being able to go two days out of the week to band practice. I liked being able to play my instrument and making beautiful sound come out of something so little. Playing with the band was my thing I could not stop smiling and feeling all this joy inside as I played. When the director put his arms up and signaled us to start playing was so thrilling knowing that we were about to make beautiful music all together. I think back and see how simple things made me really happy as a child. Now let’s talk about middle school. While I was in middle school I was still in band and yes it still brought me happiness. The main thing that brought me happiness while I was in middle school was being a little more free from home and my parents. If I remember correctly it was seventh grade that I went to my first dance, you can imagine my excitement. When I was at the dance my friends and I were having a great time, we were laughing and dancing the whole time. Because it was my first dance it was a very fun time, and it brought so much happiness to be able to share that experience with my friends. When I was in high school all of my interests changed and even now I have the same interests. I found my passion for singing so I auditioned to join the school choir and I made it. Being in choir class was the best thing that I did when I was in high school. The happiness that I felt when I walked into that class every day I have no words to describe it. To top it all off when I started to sing and hear the chords we would all make together gave me the chills. There was not a single day that passed where hearing myself and others around me sing was not magical. When I would have a bad day I waited for third period to talk into class grab my folder from my cubic and start to sing and just forget about everything. Music was my escape from being upset, it was the way for me to forget about what was going on in my life. The happiness I felt was so great, even now I turn to music for help and comfort. In conclusion, happiness is an abstract emotion that cannot be easily defined. Not everyone feels happiness in the exact same way or from the same things. But no matter where our happiness comes from we all feel it. We feel it as kids, as teenagers, and as adults. Even though what causes us happiness may change the characteristics of it do not. The smile, the giggle, and the butterflies in your stomach do not disappear. From firsthand experience I know that we all go through phases, but not matter how old we get, we are always going to be happy.