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Slade Garraghty

Professor Sinclair

LBST 2301-340

07 November 2021

Interview on a Good Life

Life is hard growing up with five siblings, all of varying ages. You don’t always get what

you want and there is no such thing as being spoiled. Especially when you’re the only child who

is a girl. On top of all of these things imagine living on a farm where income is very little and

work is very hard. If all of these things seem to make you think of a stressful or depressed life,

you’re wrong.

For this project I decided to interview my mom’s best friend Jeana Dunn. Jeana is fifty-three

years old and is possibly the happiest person I know. She was born and raised in Davie County,

North Carolina and now lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has been married for

twenty-five years and is a mother to three kids. Jeana is a deeply religious Christian and accounts

much of her success to God. I chose to interview Jeana because of her previous circumstances

which are listed above. From society we hear of people with rough circumstances and seem to

think they will have a worse life. But and what I have learned from this course, this is not always

the case. That is true for Jeana. Even with harder obstacles to overcome, she is still much happier

than others.

Going into the interview process, and deciding which questions to ask, I stumbled on what to

start with. The topic of this interview is a very deep topic and I wanted to use a few surface

questions to help start the discussion. So, I started with the question, “What do you define as a
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good life?”. Jeana responded to this question with, “I would define a good life as one that has

been blessed with good friends, a loving family, a healthy body and peace in Jesus Christ. I have

experienced good and bad times but at the end of the day, what has sustained me is knowing that

I am loved”. Love is an important aspect of human happiness. Haidt shows this when he says,

“We are an ultrasocial species, full of emotions finely tuned for loving, befriending, helping,

sharing, and intertwining our lives with one another” (Haidt, 134).

For my next question, I wanted to get more personal to see overall if she thought her life was

happy. While being the happiest person to me, this could be the opposite for her, and I wanted to

see how she thought of her life. I asked, “Overall has your life been happy and why?”. She

answered with, “Overall when I think about it, my life has been happy because of the choices I

have made along the journey. I decided at an early age to put Jesus Christ first and that has been

one of my greatest joys. I have also learned what joy true friends bring me. This has helped me

weed out all the ones who cause trouble and bring negativity. I have also been blessed with my

husband who makes me happy along with my children who are the best thing that has happened

to me. When I really take a step back and look at it, I can’t complain”.

I then asked the question, “What would you add to your life if you could add anything?”

Jeana answered with, “There are so many things I could say that would fit the stereotypes such as

money or more friends, but I can’t do this. I also understand that nothing added to my life will

add anything long term because I will eventually get used to it. I think this question is wired to

find people who haven’t found out their source of happiness. But for me, I wouldn’t change a

thing because I love where I am at right now.” This idea that she mentioned also aligns with

what Haidt said about base level happiness. “In the long run, it doesn’t much matter what
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happens to you. Good fortune or bad, you will always return to your happiness set-point” (Haidt,

86).

Next, I asked, “Do you have any regrets and if so how have they affected your decisions?”.

Jeana responded with, “One regret I have in my life is that I haven’t traveled enough and seen

the world as much as I have wanted. Another regret is letting fear hold me back from trying new

things. I think this has kept me from doing things I could potentially love but will never know.

Lastly, I regret not being able to speak my mind about situations where I felt attacked or

misunderstood. Overall though these regrets are only regrets. I recognize and understand that I

cannot change the past so instead I use them for the future. These things keep me aware of future

situations where I could make these regrets disappear. You can’t sit and regret what you’ve done,

you have to get up and change it for the future.”

Lastly, I wanted to see if Jeana had any advice for others. Since this class is about defining

and understanding a happy life, it is crucial to recognize the other side of it. While happiness is

great, you won’t always be happy. There is the other side of happiness that many people in

society struggle with and that is depression or feelings of failure. I asked her the question, “What

advice would you give to someone struggling with happiness?” She responded with, “Happiness

will never be found in things. Money can’t buy it! Stop looking for happiness in people. It truly

comes from within yourself. When you understand or realize you were created by God for a

purpose even if you do not know it or understand it, you feel peace. Trust in your heart that He’s

got this and enjoy every second you are given. Even though life feels long, time flies and if you

don’t sit back and enjoy it, you will always be looking for the next thing. In reality, you are

blessed to be breathing right now. We all have mountain top experiences and low valley
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challenges but those are the places we find out what we are made of and where we learn the best

lessons about ourselves.”

From this course and this interview, I have learned a lot about this concept of happiness. We

all need happiness in our life, or we feel as if we have no purpose. The question “What is a

happy life” stems from the question “What is the purpose of life”. I begin to see a pattern of so

many questions. We are beings of such great intelligence that we question ourselves so often.

But in reality, these questions only produce a lack of hope or self-confidence. When we ask

ourselves questions, we doubt what we believe, who we are, our strengths in ourselves and so

much more. I believe the questions that we ask, bring such a downward pull on us because of the

fear of not knowing. When we don’t know the answers to these questions, or we see others who

have the answers to their own questions it scares us. Jeana’s perspective showed just how

detrimental these comparisons and mindsets can be. They can bring regrets and fear for the

future. Haidt shows this in his final conclusion when he says, “I don’t believe there is an

inspiring answer to the question What is the purpose of life?” (Haidt, 238). And this brings my

first takeaway from this course which is that it’s okay to not have all the answers. I am still very

young and don’t even know if I’ll be alive in a week, so I just have to enjoy today. But back on

the idea of happiness, I think we must recognize that happiness is relative. From this interview

and this course, I am aware that everyone finds happiness in different things. There isn’t one

thing that will bring everyone happiness and that's perfectly okay. The key to happiness is not the

same key that fits your friends or family and I think that is so cool. I think it’s amazing how we

all find happiness in different ways and how we all must find where it’s located. Another

takeaway for me is to find your own happiness, not what others tell you happiness is. You’ll

never become happier if you do things that don’t bring you happiness, no matter how much
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others love it. So, when I actually look at the main question of the course, I am able to

understand that there isn’t an answer that will satisfy what I’m looking for. This gives me hope

to know that one thing won’t make me happy but more of a wide variety of different things. I

now have the knowledge to look for those things and to pursue them in a way that will produce

true happiness. I have really enjoyed learning about this topic that society and I personally have

struggled so much. From this interview, I have my final takeaway from this course and that is,

listen to others who have already been through it. There are so many people who have the same

questions about their own lives and listening to the ones who have found their own answers can

provide a great amount of help. This life isn’t meant to go through alone and with the help of

others I think we can all find what truly makes us happy.

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