"Living the Dream" Survey

Hello Doomworld, I'd like to ask for the assistance of, well, anyone in helping with a survey (assignment). Since I need a field of varied opinions, I figure that asking the Doom community might be a good start. I'd be glad if people could simply answer the questions below:

(Oh, and please provide a first name (if you want) and an age (or a range))

• What does the phrase "living the dream" mean to you?
  
• How do you pursue (your own) happiness/joy in your life? (As in, what makes you happy/worth living for?)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for anyone's support beforehand :)

I don't know, I ain't livin' no dream.

Simply enough, doing what you have always wanted to do (whatever that may be).

Call me Daniel, and somewhere in the 'teens.

1. To me it means to live the life everyone dreams of or longs for.
2. I'll find that out soon enough.

Working at a job you love (Full of money).
Doing things you enjoy (Not always full of money).

what this, psych 101 hw or something?

Living the dream to me would be working in a job I love (hopefully in games developing) and just having nice things, along with a very good social group.

Just by attempting to live my life I guess, happiness may come soon (not to say I'm not happy but hope that my life improves a bit more). I'll admit I have a good set of friends but not exactly the best life. I guess really I just try and live for everyday I can whatever chances I get I take them. I hardly believe anyone gets a perfect life without the bad parts, personally.

BloodyAcid said:

• What does the phrase "living the dream" mean to you?

Most of the time I have heard people use that expression, it has been sarcastically. eg I met someone that I knew from a few years back. They were employed in a shitty job, finances were bad and, without going into details, basically very little had been going right for them for quite some time. They said, "yup, this is me 'living the dream'".

Living the dream sounds dangerously american.

Pursuing happiness is a trick question. You can only find happiness once you make the conscious choice to enjoy life and stop chasing an unattainable and ill-defined ideal.

My name is Bob and I'm twelve years old.

I can honestly say that have done pretty much what I've dreamed of.All I dream of now is staying as healthy as possible until it's my time.I'd still like to win a huge lottery,though.My name is Jann.

Name: Jean, 30

I see 'living the dream' as nearly synonymous with 'living the life of Riley.' Or an easy, carefree life. Of course living the dream is a bit more subjective than that. In a nutshell you could say it describes an individual who's achieved Self-Actualization (Maslow, n.d.).

Glibly, I would say one pursues this by doing what one loves, or conversely learning to love what one does.

P.S. your second question is begging-the-question; it's a leading question. If this is supposed to be an informal survey for school, I would recommend switching to more neutral language.
P.P.S. so unless it's part of your project to include this, leave that 'happiness/joy' talk out, or be more specific with your first question.

Phml said:

Pursuing happiness is a trick question. You can only find happiness once you make the conscious choice to enjoy life and stop chasing an unattainable and ill-defined ideal.

I agree, but it's all relative to the individual. Someone out there might find their raison d'être by laying in bed all day, every day, festering in their own faeces and with bedsores the size of cushions covering their body. That's not a difficult ideal to attain, in the same way that becoming an astronaut or internationally recognised celebrity might be, which require as much luck as sheer perseverance and diligence (otherwise such gifted or fortunate people would account for a much higher percentage of the population).

Alexa, 29

"Living the dream", to me, is not only realizing a dream in your life that makes you happy, but also the road to that dream. Journey can be just as important, or more important, than the destination (if there even is one).

I pursue happiness by pursuing my dreams. And eating quesedillas.

Grey, 58

To me, "living the dream" is just a shard of the empty rhetoric and feelgood phrases we're bombarded with during election campaigns. Even with lowered expectations I doubt many people can honestly claim they're "living the dream", and I'm not one of them. Do you stop dreaming when you've reached your personal nirvana?

James, 23

1) Living the dream will always be having a life that feels like it has reached a peak of a positive nature. You're perhaps doing that one thing you always wanted to do, or your hard work has paid off and now you're just reaping the benefits. It's like the holiday you save up for, or getting paid well to do your favourite activity.

2) Right now I live for the times I'm not at work or on my own in the place I'm renting near the job. It's seeing my friends, going away for weekends and the ocassional larger event that makes the boring shit that working adulthood is pass by and seem worth doing.

Living the live of a carefree, boheme bachelor is quite close to "living the dream" for me.