Feeling fulfilled within the fun

TAYLER REVIERE VERNINAS | THE USD VISTA | ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

There are a lot of fun things we do in college: take cool courses that spark interests in unknown fields, meet people from all over the world, adventure around the exciting cities outside campus, and take trips to the beach during the day and the night.

But do all of these fun activities we do actually fulfill us as individuals? Do they make us experience this feeling of fulfillment and make us think ‘wow I feel so empowered by this and I am going to trust in this process and continue to be apart of this because it is going to fulfill me internally with such pure happiness and gratitude and joy?’ Have we found that one—or maybe more than one—object or action that constantly feeds our soul with excess feelings of life?

If so, then let us keep on doing what makes us most genuinely happy. If not, then let’s change what has become normal and challenge ourselves to not simply go through the motions.

There are so many fun things I have done in my past three semesters of college and so much more I hope to still do. But what I have come to realize is that despite an action being fun, it does not always mean it is fulfilling. To me, the term fulfilling answers the above question. To be fulfilled is to have a feeling of peace within your heart and mind, while also giving you immense feelings of passion.

We have met people who have challenged us to be a better version of ourselves, as well as people who have influenced us to make negative decisions. We have been to unknown destinations that have now become our local getaway spot. We have also taken wrong turns that resulted in consequences that we hoped we learned from (maybe not all of them though). We have engaged in conversations that have exposed us to new ways of thinking, as well as partaken in ignorant small talk that in no way bettered us as individuals.

Everyone has their own ways of understanding what it means to feel fulfillment. Yet, it is within these experiences that we might find what truly fulfills our whole being.

Some fun things we experience may not always fulfill us. But the action that brings us fulfillment will result in experiencing the best type of fun we could possibly imagine.