Article July 13, 2015 Issue

Happiness and home

Hannah Sipe

Many people would gladly jump at the opportunity to live in Hawaii, but I didn’t feel the same.

When my parents told me we were moving there, I threw myself down on the ground and burst into tears. I was miserable with the idea and was a very unhappy camper. I didn’t want to feel stranded on some island in the middle of the ocean, disconnected from everything. Years later I was still holding on to the pain of leaving my “perfect” life behind in California. I was pretty much a walking pity party.

As time went on, living in Hawaii wasn’t so bad, but I still had a hard time being genuinely happy. When I did feel happy, it was because I was relying on other people and circumstances for my happiness. To me, the only thing that would fix this was if I moved back home to California.

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