Every human being, no matter where they come from, is searching for one common thing: happiness. Some chase it through money, some through relationships, others through achievements, fame, or pleasure. I used to believe that if I earned enough money, married the person I loved, bought a car, built a house, and stayed close to my family, then I would finally be happy. But life had something very different to teach me. Despite reaching many of those goals, I still felt an emptiness inside. It took me years of struggle, conversations with older and wiser people, books, therapy sessions, and my own life experiences to realize that happiness is not what we are told it is.
This is the story of that realization my journey of chasing happiness through external achievements, and the lesson that true happiness does not come from outside, but from within.
Early Struggles and the Illusion of Money:
Like many families, mine went through difficult financial times. Paying school fees was a challenge, and I remember the deep embarrassment when teachers would publicly call out the names of students whose fees were pending. Those moments broke my confidence, left me depressed, and made me feel worthless. At home, things were not easy either. My father had started a business by taking loans, and when bad times came, we had no safety net. We kept shifting houses, living on rent until I was in my early twenties, never feeling stable enough to make lasting friendships.
In those days, I grew up believing that money was the solution to every problem. If we had enough money, life would be good. I heard it everywhere study hard, get a good job, earn well, and everything else will fall into place. Money, I thought, was the ultimate key to happiness. This belief shaped my entire teenage and early adult years.
Chasing Happiness Through Education and Achievements:
I worked hard in school, went for tuitions, cleared competitive exams, and even topped my class. I got admission into a college in Delhi, close to home, which felt like a big achievement. But when I entered college, the happiness I expected never came. The sense of emptiness remained.
I thought maybe happiness lay in doing more, in staying busy. So, I joined clubs, internships, dance teams, and even started earning a little money in college. I believed that keeping myself occupied and “achieving more” would fill the void. But even then, I wasn’t happy.
One day, while speaking vulnerably with a friend about my struggles, he laughed and told me, “You’re depressed.” That line hit me hard. Was I actually depressed? Or was I just constantly running after something that never satisfied me? Looking back, I now realize I was chasing happiness in all the wrong places.
Relationships, Career, and the Business Dream:
During college, I thought maybe happiness would come from love. So, I pursued relationships, but they didn’t bring the fulfillment I expected either. Then I thought maybe happiness would come once I had a career and a good business. I tried my hand at multiple things, including business ventures, but within one and a half years, I went bankrupt. The shame, the loans, the criticism from family it all broke me further.
Still, I didn’t stop chasing. I believed that once I “sorted out” my business, paid off debts, and started making money, I would finally be happy. And to some extent, I did achieve that. I rebuilt myself, paid off loans, earned well, and even built the life I had once dreamed of. But strangely enough, the same emptiness returned.
I realized I had been climbing ladder after ladder, only to find that each one led me back to the same place. The success, the recognition, the money all of it was temporary. None of it gave me the lasting happiness I thought it would.
Marriage and the Myth of a Perfect Life:
Later, I got married to the woman I loved, and I am truly grateful for that blessing. Marriage brought love, companionship, and new experiences. But marriage also brought its own challenges adjustments, family responsibilities, financial planning, and balancing different relationships.
While I cherished the good moments, whenever I was alone, I still felt that deep emptiness. I asked myself repeatedly: “Why am I not happy inside? I have everything I once dreamed of—money, a car, a house, a family, and love. Why do I still feel hollow?”
That was the point when I began questioning the very foundation of my beliefs about happiness.
The Realization: External Success Is Not Happiness:
After years of chasing one thing after another college, money, relationships, business, marriage I finally realized that I was looking for happiness in the wrong places. I thought happiness was something to be achieved, something that came after ticking boxes on a checklist. But it isn’t.
Money is important, yes, but only to live comfortably, to support your loved ones, and to feel secure. Relationships are important too, because love and family are essential. But the truth is, neither money nor relationships can make you happy if you are empty inside.
Real happiness comes from within. It comes from your relationship with yourself. When you are alone, without distractions, without achievements, without people, what do you feel? Do you feel peace, or do you feel emptiness? That is the real measure of happiness.
The Difference between Pleasure and Happiness:
Another important realization I had was understanding the difference between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is temporary. It comes from things like eating your favorite food, partying, traveling, drinking, or watching videos. While these give short-term enjoyment, they do not leave you with lasting peace.
Happiness, on the other hand, is a deeper feeling. It stays with you even after the moment has passed. It is not dependent on external factors but comes from within. True happiness is found in activities that nourish your soul, not just your mind.
Conclusion:
Looking back, I now see how much of my life was spent in the endless chase—believing that the next milestone, the next achievement, the next relationship, or the next amount of money would finally bring me happiness. But happiness never arrived that way. It was always temporary, always followed by emptiness.
The lesson I learned is simple: happiness cannot be found outside. It must be discovered within. It is not about what you achieve, but how you feel when you are with yourself. The key is to stop chasing and start reflecting to understand what truly gives you peace and fulfillment, beyond money, beyond recognition, beyond temporary pleasures.
The journey to happiness begins not with the world, but with yourself.
FAQs:
1. Why do many people fail to find happiness despite achieving success?
Because they chase happiness in external milestones money, relationships, and achievements, only to realize these bring temporary satisfaction but not lasting inner peace.
2. How is pleasure different from true happiness?
Pleasure is short-lived and depends on external activities like eating, traveling, or entertainment, while true happiness is long-lasting, internal, and rooted in peace and self-acceptance.
3. Can money guarantee happiness?
No. Money is necessary for comfort, security, and supporting loved ones, but beyond a certain point, it cannot fill the inner emptiness or provide lasting happiness.
4. Why do relationships and marriage not always bring happiness?
While relationships bring love and companionship, they also come with challenges. If a person feels empty inside, no relationship can fix that inner peace must come first.
5. What is the key lesson about finding happiness from this story?
That happiness is not something to chase in the outside world. It comes from within, through self-reflection, inner peace, and building a meaningful relationship with yourself.
