I was thinking about this and decided to find out what other people thought.

Question:
What do you think is most important in life or in your life; to be happy, to be loved or to be impactful?

Choices:
Happiness
Love
Impact

 

I think happiness and love are so closely correlated that it's hard to distinguish between them. However, I've felt like absolute shit for long periods of time even while I had parents and a family that loved and supported me, so I guess I'd choose happiness over love.

I think there's a similar correlation between the impact a person has and how happy they are. I think it's about impossible to really do good things for other people if you're constantly miserable yourself. When I feel good, I do all kinds of things to help other people, but when I'm bad, it's all I can do to get through the day without trying to kill myself. So I voted for happiness.

I'll take impact. If I have a good impact on those around me (my daughter, my students, my friends and family), I'm pretty sure happiness and love will follow.

I don't need large scale impact: I don't need to be the voice of my generation or anything like that.

I'll take love. It seems to be the glue that binds happiness and impact, at least for me. Love of & from family and friends and even the prospect of that nowadays elusive romantic love is the most important thing in my life.

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
I'll take love. It seems to be the glue that binds happiness and impact, at least for me. Love of & from family and friends and even the prospect of that nowadays elusive romantic love is the most important thing in my life.

I'd say something similar, but I value love so much because it brings happiness. If it made me miserable, I don't think I'd care much for it. Really, all 3 of these are so closely intertwined that I don't think it's possible to give a straight answer. It's like asking whether you'd rather be rich, win the lottery, or spend a lot of money.