"Happiness vs.

Sadness"
When one thinks of happiness and sadness one cannot help think that these
two terms are polar opposites of one another. But from previous experiences, the
only way to fully appreciate the full spectrum of happiness; people also need to
experience sadness. Happiness, of course, is what is strived for every day
because who truly wants to be sad day in and day out of their lives. People
simply want to always be happy. In order for people to fully appreciate
happiness, at some point they will have to experience some sort of sadness so
that they can truly grasp the euphoria of happiness.

Sadness is something that can break someone’s spirit, but happiness is

something that can, and will repair it. From a personal standpoint, the moments
I have experienced in sadness have made the happy moments even better. Like
during the aftermath of losing in the state tournament with my high school
soccer team, the sadness that was felt was something I will never forget. But
then there was the next game a couple months later and the joy and happiness
that I felt playing the game again I believe was because of the fact I had
experienced the sadness that accompanies a devastating loss.

In Mark Kingwell’s essay, "In Pursuit of Happiness," Kingwell lists several

definitions of happiness. For instance Kingwell wrote, "The New English
Dictionary defines happiness as, state of pleasurable content of mind, which
results from success…" Success obviously brings happiness because of the fact of
the pride in accomplishing something. Failure on the other hand will bring on
disappointment and sadness. Without ever truly experiencing failure how can one
truly experience the outright joy from success? If Thomas Edison had gotten the
light bulb right the first time would he have felt the same after he finally got
it right after the hundredth time. Obviously he still would have experienced
happiness if he had gotten it right the first time, but after all those attempts
and finally getting it right his happiness must have been exponentially
better.

Sadness is also something that helps people to realize what they have. Being
happy all the time limits a person’s ability to see what they have and
appreciate the true value of it. Sadness brings out the outlook on life that
shows you what you have. While happiness may shadow the true value of these
things because of the positive outlook on life happiness brings.

Happiness and sadness coexist with one another because without one the other
cannot be felt. Happiness and sadness are on the opposite ends of the emotions
spectrum and need to be both felt in order to fully appreciate the other because
they show the positives of one another. Being happy all the time eliminates the
feeling of sadness which is important to experience because it allows the human
mind to be able to relate with other people. People who do experience sadness
occasionally, are able to relate to other peoples’ sadness and be able to give
them sympathy. Extremely happy people may have a hard time sympathizing with sad
people because they may not be able to emotionally be able to understand what
the other person is feeling.

Neither happiness nor sadness can truly be explained because of the fact
that happiness and sadness are unique to each person. Not everyone can truly
relate their happiness to someone else’s' happiness because what makes two
people happy may be different. The same goes with sadness what may make one
person feel like the world may end; may only male another person feel like they
encountered some sort of inconvenience during the day. For instance in Jennifer
Senior’s essay, "Some Dark Thoughts on Happiness", Senior writes about the
Authentic Happiness Inventory. I myself took this questionnaire and found out
that I had received a score of 3.38, that is ranked from one, the lowest, to 5,
the highest most happiest. Do not get me wrong 3.38 seems to be a good score,
and I did score above the average happiness levels form many demographics I
qualify for, but can a number really be put on happiness. Because happiness is
an emotion along with sadness, and they are felt by situational circumstances
that vary. My sadness may actually something that may make someone else happy,
and vice versa.

In many instances sadness is the start of happiness. After experiencing a

gut wrenching sadness typically on the emotional spectrum there is no way to go
but up. Sadness is actually the start of happiness. After being sad people will
begin to have experiences that will help to bring the happiness back to their
life. It may not be one or two of these moments, but actual several small ones
that eventually bring you back to the level of happiness that you want.
Unfortunately, this too occurs with happiness. In every moment in life people
cannot always be happy, it is just not truly possible. There will be these
little moments of sadness that occasionally spring up in your life, but these
moments will always be counterbalanced by a moment of happiness. Each emotion is
the opposite of the other, but without the other the other cannot be felt.

So happiness and sadness even though they are two highly separate emotions
felt at totally different times, they still need on another for humans to
experience the emotions. Happiness cannot be understood unless people feel the
sorrows of sadness because these sorrows are which allow people to fully
understand and appreciate happiness. Happiness and sadness are yin and yang
without one you truly do not understand the true feelings of the other.