Good morning,

Before I begin today, I’d like to take a stand: No Halloween decorations before October 1. Who’s with me? 👻

Here’s what I have for you today:

• One big thing. Happiness has become an industry. If it’s the goal, why do so many still feel something’s missing? 😁😥

• You have to check this out. Is now the time to give up? 🏳️

Get another cup of coffee, and let’s jump in? ☕🦘

1️⃣ ONE BIG THING

Is there more to life than happiness?

I.

Artem spends the day digging a trench with his fellow soldiers. It is the 47th trench he has dug this year. Each new trench becomes his temporary home. He is tired. He has not seen his family in months. He lives every moment knowing a Russian drone may end his life in a flash. When he sleeps, he dreams of his childhood in Uzhhorod. When he wakes, it’s time to move again. 100 meters forward. Time to dig trench 48. Without it, Ukraine has no future.

II.

Olivia sits by the pool at the Faena Hotel Miami Beach. She has everything she needs—perfect health and a flush bank account. She smiles widely into the camera as she snaps a selfie of the new necklace her boyfriend gave her. She isn’t sure when her friends will arrive, but she doesn’t mind. All that matters is today.

III.

Angela, who recently retired, spends each Tuesday and Thursday reading to children at the school near her home. The reading sessions give her a weekly structure. The kids compliment the unique dresses she buys at a local boutique. Her hip is a little wonky, and she needs to get the house painted, but she spends more days than not with a smile as she writes her memoir about her trailblazing engineering career.

The curious case of Artem.

Comparing those three stories, you’re likely grateful not to be in Artem’s boots.

If we asked Artem if he was happy right now, he’d certainly say no.

Over 2.5 million Americans served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many across multiple deployments. In a survey, over half of them reported personally knowing someone who attempted or committed suicide.

The same survey found 89% of them would choose to join the military again.

Some of them have gone a step further. The best estimates suggest thousands of Americans have joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a unit of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

Let me pause to acknowledge that this is an exceptionally complex topic. I am not qualified to dissect or judge these decisions, nor is it my intent.

I am comfortable saying Artem and other soldiers are not chasing happiness.

Religious missionaries, doctors working in crisis zones, caregivers of chronically ill family members, writers toiling over the eighth rewrite of their novel—none of them would report high levels of happiness.

And yet you probably understand their actions. They are not chasing happiness. They are chasing meaning.

It’s clear happiness and meaning are not the same, but do they overlap?

Today, I'll explain what the research says about happiness vs. meaning.

I will give you a framework to understand each so you can better align your actions to the life you aspire to.

The happiness industry.

Happiness and meaning are both widely held goals.

“A breathtakingly broad variety of other common goals and strivings– as examples, the desires to be healthy, to be loved, to succeed at work, to raise children, and to serve one’s religion or country– can be subsumed under either or both of those broad wishes,” explain Baumeister et al.

Here’s the reality: If the concepts of happiness and meaning battled for society’s attention, the fight would be over before it began.

The quest for happiness is everywhere. I searched for books on happiness on Goodreads and stopped when I passed the 1,000^th book on the list (Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness, if you're curious).

I found a fellow named Roman Russo who wrote an article titled, "I’ve Read 100+ Books on Happiness. Here is What I Found.” He is the self-styled Chief Happiness Officer and the leading happiness coach at Optimal Happiness. Go, Roman!

This applies to me too. My fifth Second Act Creator letter was titled, What is true happiness?

Is there something wrong with seeking happiness? Of course not.

The more obvious case of Olivia.

It’s easy to conjure a mental image of Olivia’s poolside selfie, isn't it? Relaxing carefree by a pool, wearing a gorgeous new necklace from a generous partner, is aspirational for many.

Yes, this is simplistic and stereotyped, but the underlying desire “I just want to be happy” is not. It is pervasive.

For multifaceted reasons, we are all chasing happiness. And rightfully so.

What is happiness anyway?

Here are the key concepts psychologists use to define happiness:

• The subjective experience that life feels good right now. On balance, you are experiencing positive, pleasant emotions more than negative, unpleasant ones.

• A broader feeling that your life, taken as a whole, is going well.  

Taken together, happiness is the word people use to describe a collection of net-positive feelings (I feel good) and a present-tense assessment of life satisfaction (I am living a good life).

By all accounts, if we asked Olivia to self-assess her happiness by the pool, she would rate things 10 out of 10. I feel good. I am living the good life.

I know you can tell something is off here.

Olivia sounds too much like the poster-child of the vapid influencer class, doesn’t she?

I’d argue that my Olivia example is actually just an exaggerated, simplified version of what it means to pursue happiness in the purest sense.

Here are a few more criteria psychologists use to define happiness:

• Having your basic needs met. In this way, happiness is rooted in nature. We are wired to pursue what we need (food, shelter, safety). For this biology to work, we need to feel good when we get them. Having the things we need in life produces positive feelings—the sense that life is comfortable and easy.

• Being able to get things you want. Life is more than needs. We also want. Getting what you want also produces positive emotions; not getting them does the opposite. Feelings of abundance versus scarcity fuel happiness in this way.

• Good health is the absence of the negative emotions and frustrating limitations of bad health. After you have been sick, you are almost giddy to be feeling better.

• Social engagement. Being socially connected to others, feeling supported, and feeling like one belongs are all major contributors to human happiness.

• Low ratios of bad things. On balance, the above imply the absence of unmet needs, scarcity, discomfort, harmful/stressful events, conflict, unmet desires, illness/injury/pain, isolation, and loneliness. The net feeling of happiness and life satisfaction imply “more good than bad”.

Is there more to life than happiness?

Your Spidey Sense was tingling in thinking about Olivia by the pool because you were still thinking about Artem in the trench.

Artem is not happy, but his life has meaning.

Soldiers returning to the military and to war zones are seeking meaning. Religious missionaries, doctors in crisis zones, caregivers, and artists often live meaningful, but unhappy lives.

Olivia is clearly happy, but do you suspect her life lacks meaning.

As I defined happiness above is it completely different than meaning?

The links between happiness and meaning.

I’ve based today’s letter on a wonderful piece of research and writing by Baumeister et al. (2013): “Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life.”

Using a series of online surveys with about 400 adults, the researchers developed statistical correlations between variables of happiness and meaning.

They found happiness and meaning were “substantially and positively correlated,” with a correlation of 0.63 – 0.70. Here’s what that means in simpler terms:

About half of what drives happiness also drives meaning. Conversely, about half does not.

As shown in a Venn diagram (as below), half the variables that contribute to happiness do not contribute to meaning, and half of the variables that contribute to meaning do not contribute to happiness.

The researchers acknowledged, “Meaning and happiness feed off each other, but they do have substantially different roots. Some things contribute to both, but others really are quite differentiating and specific. This investigation was a search of the latter.”

Place your bookmarks here.

What makes meaning unique?

If happiness is rooted in nature, meaning is rooted in culture.

How about if we pause there for today?

As it turns out, this is one of those letters that turned out much longer than I expected.

I'll return next week with part two, detailing how meaning is lodged within culture, involves longer timeframes, and is about ideas bigger than the self.

I'll provide a framework to understand which parts of your life likely contribute to your happiness versus giving you a sense of meaning – and which contribute to both.

And we’ll talk more about Angela and how she compares to Artem and Olivia.

See you then.

Thanks for reading today, my friend.

Kevin

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P.P.S. If you’d like to continue reading, here are two recommendations:

1. The Distractions of Unhappiness: Happiness and unhappiness aren’t opposites—they can coexist in surprising ways.

2. Contrasting Gratitude: How the contrast effect can turn negativity into gratitude.