Fullfilment

Life is ongoing; it does not turn around or stop for anyone. The pressure to achieve a

happy meaningful life is a weight everyone feels. Success is easily a goal everyone reaches for,

but fulfillment in life is achieved when one deems their own actions as valuable and impacting.

In the poem “A Man Said to the Universe,” Stephen Crane leaves the reader with an

open window to make several conclusions. At first the meaning behind the poem comes across

shallow and pointless, but with further thought about the fulfillment of life, we learn about man

and his longing to make an impact. The man in the poem reminds the universe that he exist

because he feels as though he has gone unnoticed. The man wants to be known and wants to

leave an impact on the universe, but the universe only acknowledges the man's existence as if it

has left no mark. It is human nature to want acknowledgment, however individuals will only

succeed when their own involvement in the universe is important to themselves. The man was

only seeking confirmation from the universe because he had not received it from within himself.

The psychology department at Emory University, Atlanta conducted a study among

several college students. They put them through a series of task such as a false feedback task,

self focus task and reward tasks. Several conclusions were made, but the reward tasks

feedback is psychologically important to understanding when fulfillment is achieved. Students

were given the option of an easy or hard task. After performing the tasks, the students who

failed the easy task were disappointed. The students who failed the harder task had a sense of

accomplishment but not for completing the task yet taking the route that was harder eventhough the chance of failure was at a higher risk. The task might not have been important, but

the idea that it required more effort gives the task higher meaning. So the students felt fulfilled

even when they failed because they tried something that took more effort.

Morris A. Okun and Ga Young Kim in, “The interplay of frequency of volunteering and

prosocial motivation on purpose in life in emerging adults”, analyzed adults purpose in life in

relation to volunteering. The article describes two types of motivation for volunteering:

pleasure-based prosocial motivation and pressure-based prosocial motivation. Pleasure-based

motivation is the concept that the volunteer receives gratification from helping others with no

direct reason or obligation, while pressure-based motivation is controlled through sense of

obligation and social norms. Although one type is personally motivated and one is socially

motivated, both types can raise ones purpose in life. Whether an individual volunteers for the

pleasure of helping others or to fulfill their civic duties both are associated with a sense of

importance and therefore giving a fulfilled purpose. It does not matter where individuals receive

their motivation from for its the motivation in itself that provides value to their actions.

People will always find new ways to temporarily fulfill happiness. They will continue to

seek others approval and change themselves to fit an ideal image. However they will never be

fulfilled until they realize lasting approval comes from within themselves. Once they learn to live

for themselves they will find their motivation to proceed a life they find valuable and important.