I recently wrote an article on Happiness for the NUS school magazine, similar to the recent blogpost I put up here (or not-so-recent). My Chief Editor gave me an example for an NUS student's happiness:
1) Having an active social life - This requires us to engage in clubbing or being in team sports or being involved in dancing or generally doing something that has a group-oriented setting and we aren't happy until we find a group that accepts us and that we want to be accepted by. The only solution is to be patient as you will find the group/club/activity that you want to do with others but also we should be adventurous and try things we haven't tried before.
I thought, 'Yeah, that's pretty true. A lot of people are trying out new things to fit in. But, how far would they go? Would they engage in something that they find immoral or uncomfortable just to fit in?'
On the heels of that thought came another, 'Is that really happiness?'
Honestly, there really is no point fitting in with something or somewhere that does not make you happy. Even belonging to something that accepts you. At the end of the day, you yourself will have to attribute a value to your happiness in different circumstances - how far would you compromise your happiness to be... happy?
Tread lightly.
