Happiness in education 2

Happiness in education

We spend almost half our lives studying and going to school. But, sometimes this looks like a boring routine. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine or obligation, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I have been asking myself, how I can increase my happiness level when it comes to my education and I finally got many ideas. Which are getting positive and optimistic thinking, studying what I really like, defeat some challenges such as fears and stress.

Positive and optimistic thinking are really important not only to increase happiness in education but also to be successful in everything we do. When I get negative thinking, like I can’t finish this homework or I can’t pass the test, I notice that actually I can’t do it. Consequently, these negative feelings make me fell bad and decrease my motivation. For those reasons I think that being positive is one of the best ways to increase happiness in education. For example, I remember that weeks before taking the ACT test I was very scared and sad because I did not fell very confident with my knowledge. I come to the United States 2 years ago and English has been difficult for me to learn. Even I had all these obstacles I started to think positively and I passed the test. It means that my positives thoughts like I can do it motivate me to study hard and present the test.

            Studying what I really like is another way that can help me to increase my happiness in education. In other words when you study something that you like or makes you happy it is wonderful because that means you are enjoying what you are doing. In Ken Robinson’s speech he introduced how people move us away from the things we like with the argument that we will never find a job doing it. For instance, don’t study art or music because you will not be successful. Many talented, brilliant and creative people drop out what they like to study something that will keep them unhappy. In my own experience, people tell me “study something that makes you rich” or “don’t study that because you will not find a job”. I don't care about what will make me rich. I am looking for a major that really interest me because I don’t imagined myself in a class that I am not going to enjoying. For those reasons I fell that studying what I really like will help me to be happy and maintain a good emotional state.

I want also defeat some challenges such as fears to increases my happiness in education. One of my fears is that I am not confident with the English language. It becomes a feeling of insecurity and fear. For example, often I don’t feel good or safe in some classes like psychology, because it has a lot of vocabulary that I can’t recognize. Consequently, it brings me unhappiness and frustration when I get out of class. Sometimes, I think in the possibility to come back to my country and studying there, but in the end I realize that I have more opportunities here. In fact, I’m looking for a way to not feel this fear and make solutions such as reading what the teacher will explain in class before the psychology’s class start, this means that I have the opportunity to find and understand unfamiliar words and feel more confident in class. In addition, I want this fear to become a motivation for me to studying hard and never surrender. If I can overcome this fear my happiness in education would increase.

Other challenge to defeat is my stress when it comes from my education. I have so much information to carry in my mind and this makes my stress intolerable. Sometimes I feel that education becomes a routine, for example, every week I get up at 6:00 am to start my class schedule, I finish at 2:00 pm with my classes, then I do all my homework, and finally I go to bed when I finish with them . In the end of the day I am stressed and tired. Other thing that increases my stress is when I predict about something. As Daniel Gilbert says “we falter when we imagine how we will feel about something in the future”.  When I think that I am no able to do something as a test or homework I get a lot of stress and consequently this affects my emotional states. To increase my happiness level when it comes to my education I have to find a way to reduce my stress in education. For those reasons I’m thinking about the possibility of doing something different to distract my mind like relaxing at home and then continue studying, I can also distribute my time better to not have many things to do at the same time. And finally, I have to stop predicting what will happen with my education if I want to maintain a good emotional state.

In conclusion, education is one of the most important things in life. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I found that keep a positive thinking, studying what I really like and defeat some challenges such as fears and stress can help me to increase my happiness level when it comes to my education.