\n <\/p>\n
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness \u2014 those were the three inalienable rights laid out 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence, America\u2019s founding document. The last part of the phrase can also be perceived as a challenge: You have life. You have liberty. The rest is up to you.<\/p>\n
We sought to understand how Americans are taking up that challenge in 2026.<\/p>\n
The pursuit takes many forms. Some are relatively concrete, like chasing the enduring dream of upward mobility \u2014 material wealth, professional success, fame. But many people are engaged in far more nebulous quests, for clarity or purpose, exhilaration or serenity.<\/p>\n
But a single theme stood out across geographic, demographic and philosophical lines: To be American, it seems, is to strive. Something better, something more fulfilling, could be within reach if you are willing to chase it.<\/p>\n
In other words, the pursuit is the point.<\/p>\n
Doug Garr did the math: In his 77 years, he has spent roughly a day and a half of his life in free falls.<\/p>\n
He is approaching his 2,500th skydiving jump, having spent decades chasing the unmatched exhilaration that comes from leaping out of a plane 13,500 feet in the sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in our element,\u201d said Mr. Garr, a writer in New York. \u201cWe can kind of escape reality, which is the ups and downs and the tensions of normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sky-dived for the first time at 20. He lied on a form about his age because the company required jumpers to be at least 21. On the plane, he remembered being petrified. On the ground, he laughed hysterically.<\/p>\n
MEGHAN MARIN for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI had just cheated death,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n That feeling was all it took.<\/p>\n Eventually, his wife gave him an ultimatum: skydiving or her.<\/p>\n He chose her.<\/p>\n Decades went by without a jump. But his wife had a stroke, and in 2008 he found himself in need of a release from the stress of caring for her. He returned to skydiving.<\/p>\n He now jumps as often as several times a month, keeping watch for the right conditions: clear skies, steady winds, warm temperatures. He will head to New Jersey or Connecticut with his skydiving friends, and they might jump a few times over the course of a day.<\/p>\n MEGHAN MARIN for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n The chase cannot last forever. He knows he is getting older. Someday, he will surrender his parachute and his car keys to his son. But that day isn\u2019t here yet. He still needs to get to his 2,500th jump.<\/p>\n By Christina Morales<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Meghan Marin<\/em><\/p>\n Barb White and her husband, Kyle, applied for the gig as volunteer lighthouse keepers on a lark.<\/p>\n The location was dreamy: Baileys Harbor, a fishing town of 1,400 people on the Door Peninsula in northeast Wisconsin, jutting into Lake Michigan. The job seemed simple enough, spending a week as live-in docents on a nature preserve, greeting a stream of daily visitors to the lighthouse and explaining its 157-year history.<\/p>\n They were accepted. And three years in, the week at the lighthouse each summer is a highlight of their year, a literal beacon of happiness. But it has gone beyond that.<\/p>\n Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always thinking, what is the week at the lighthouse going to reveal \u2014 some new thinking, some new awareness?\u201d Ms. White said on a recent morning. \u201cThe lighthouse shows the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. White, a former teacher who is now a consultant, and Mr. White, an artist, have been married for 35 years. Now they save their weightiest life decisions for the lighthouse. They use the week to step back from their busy lives and let their minds wander in other directions. They kayak in the bay and hike through the woods.<\/p>\n Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n About 100 people show up at the lighthouse each day for an informal tour. Mr. White said that during his first summer as a docent, he prepped like a madman, immersing himself in the history of the lighthouse.<\/p>\n It was useful preparation. But he has been struck by how many people who show up just want to talk, conversations that leave him with a deep sense of satisfaction. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the joyful thing in life \u2014 how do you know your neighbor?\u201d Mr. White said. \u201cThrough telling stories, hearing other people\u2019s stories.\u201d<\/p>\n By Julie Bosman<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Jamie Kelter Davis<\/em><\/p>\n As soon as Malcolm McFly grabbed the mic at Fort Lauderdale Improv one recent night, he made eye contact with people in the crowd. He joked about the faulty microphone that had disrupted other comic\u2019s sets. And he made a crack about his name \u2014 a stage name, actually, created to separate his show business aspirations from his regular life.<\/p>\n He was sending a signal: I\u2019m here to talk to <\/em>you, <\/em>not at <\/em>you. <\/em>He needed the audience on his side, connected with him. The importance of that he had learned just recently, as he is not even a year into performing as a standup comedian.<\/p>\n \u201cHalf of it is jokes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the other half is, can you convince the audience to like you? And if they like you, they\u2019ll laugh at you.\u201d<\/p>\n Making audiences laugh \u2014 and the pure pleasure it brings \u2014 matters more to him than nearly anything else.<\/p>\n His real name is Malcolm Woods, and by day, he is a software engineer in Miami. The rest of his time is spent performing, writing jokes, recording a podcast, sharing his humor on social media \u2014 everything it takes to turn his passion into a sustainable career.<\/p>\n What he really wants is a streaming special. But to get that, he needs an hour of bulletproof material. He has maybe 20 minutes of jokes, most of which he is still polishing.<\/p>\n Mr. Woods has found that good material can come from mining his deepest insecurities: his short stature, or his struggles with dating. Onstage in Fort Lauderdale, he joked that when Bumble and Tinder failed, he turned to Expedia and traveled abroad in the hopes of finding love.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Thailand, I\u2019m a catch,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in Miami, I\u2019m a release.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd laughed, loudly and genuinely. He basked. <\/p>\n By Rick Rojas<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Martina Tuaty<\/em><\/p>\n An alien spaceship sits just off a dusty highway in the Mojave Desert. For years, it had existed only as a vision in Luis Ramallo\u2019s mind. But now the giant saucer, made of concrete and steel, is visible to everyone passing through Baker, Calif., an outpost between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n All it took was Mr. Ramallo\u2019s pluck, fortune and unwavering belief in the sun-bleached town where so many others have seen their ambitions wither in the heat.<\/p>\n He found his version of happiness \u2014 opportunity for himself and his family \u2014 by taking a big gamble in tiny Baker.<\/p>\n There, his store is the most conspicuous presence on Baker Boulevard: Alien Fresh Jerky, a gleaming emporium of dehydrated meats with the extraterrestrial kitsch of Roswell, N.M., and the gaudy glitz of Vegas.<\/p>\n Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n The business has afforded him a nice life. He drives a BMW and built a sprawling home behind the store.<\/p>\n Still, he wants more. Adjacent to the store, the three-story U.F.O. remains unfinished. <\/p>\n The inspiration for it, he said, came from the one he believes he saw hovering over his property about 25 years ago.<\/p>\n Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI went to tell my wife that there was a flying saucer there and when we went to look it was gone,\u201d Mr. Ramallo said. \u201cBut that vision stayed with me.\u201d<\/p>\n He set off to build his own version more than a decade ago.. He said that he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on planning and design alone, and even more on construction costs so far.<\/p>\n But if there is anything that brings him more joy than mulling extraterrestrial life, it is persisting with an audacious dream.<\/p>\n By Orlando Mayorqu\u00edn<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Isadora Kosofsky<\/em><\/p>\n Susan Semedo \u2014 better known as Pebbles, her on-air nickname \u2014 spent decades as a Boston radio D.J. and morning show host, her voice familiar to generations of listeners. Since retiring in May, she has begun navigating a new path to happiness.<\/p>\n A single woman who realized years ago that solo adventures, and closeness with family and friends, made her happier than romantic relationships, she is kicking off her next chapter with a bang. She will travel to see her favorite band, the Korean pop group BTS, perform six concerts this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cI still feel the 16-year-old girl in me so strongly, that hopefulness and excitement about life,\u201d Ms. Semedo said. \u201cTo feel that energy at 62 is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Her love of Korean music and culture began during the pandemic, when she binge-watched the Korean drama \u201cThe King\u2019s Affection\u201d on Netflix. She has since traveled to South Korea and begun learning the language. \u201cIt just lit something up in me that I was not expecting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Cassandra Klos for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n She is also finding happiness in her decision to remain single by choice. She came to embrace it years ago, after a long relationship ended suddenly, plunging her into depression. Subsequent forays into dating left her drained and questioning the payoff.<\/p>\n She says she still faces pushback from friends who want to set her up. But she thinks the world is changing, with younger generations less ready to assume that every person needs a partner.<\/p>\n And so she finds joy in exploring, often by herself.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes happiness comes from just happening upon things, and leaning into them instead of pushing them aside.\u201d<\/p>\n By Jenna Russell<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Cassandra Klos<\/em><\/p>\n Tom and Terry Sullivan thought they had been doing everything by the book in their pursuit of American happiness. He worked at the post office and she drove a school bus. They bought a house in the Denver suburbs, raised two children, paid their taxes and were planning retirement trips to Ireland.<\/p>\n Then in 2012, their firstborn, Alex, was killed on his 27th birthday in a mass shooting inside a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. In an instant, the Sullivans\u2019 lives were shattered by an unmistakably American form of violence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did all we could, and still, this happens to us,\u201d Mr. Sullivan said. \u201cIt all comes crashing down on you.\u201d<\/p>\n The grief, anger and loss will never go away, they said, but they still look for happiness and meaning in close relationships, and in trying to spare other families from enduring what they have. Mr. Sullivan threw himself into gun-control advocacy and became a state legislator. He finds moments of contentment smoking an evening cigar, or in annual escapes to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Ms. Sullivan gardens, and sometimes wanders through big-box stores to clear her thoughts. At the grocery store, she stops in the flower aisle and inhales the scent.<\/p>\n They take their 4-year-old granddaughter, who looks strikingly like their son, to the community pool and watch her play on a backyard pirate ship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not as sunny as it used to be,\u201d Mr. Sullivan said. \u201cThere\u2019s a serious undertone.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Sullivan said it was like a film had settled over everything now, with a vital piece of their happiness gone forever.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to find ways to find the good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n By Jack Healy<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Cheney Orr<\/em><\/p>\n Darris Moore wakes up each morning in Unit 26 of the Mississippi State Penitentiary, expecting a day almost exactly like the one before it. He reads the Bible. Exercises. Goes to his job as a cook in the prison restaurant.<\/p>\n That has been his routine for a long time. He knows it could be until he dies.<\/p>\n He entered prison in his early 20s. Back then, he viewed a life sentence as a death penalty of another kind. Now, at 50, his perspective has shifted entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-eight years, seven months and I\u2019m going to say about 40-something days right now,\u201d Mr. Moore said of his time served.<\/p>\n And yet: \u201cI am happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Moore was convicted of fatally shooting another man in 1997 outside a nightclub in Tupelo, Miss. He has served most of his sentence at the state penitentiary, deep in the Delta.<\/p>\n Early on, he was another troubled man in a troubled place.<\/p>\n But he shared a space with an older inmate who seemed immune to the chaos surrounding them. \u201cI want that peace,\u201d Mr. Moore thought. The bunkmate shared Bible verses, including one from I Thessalonians: Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. You should mind your own business and work with your hands.<\/em><\/p>\n That is what he has tried to do.<\/p>\n He received two degrees from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, which runs a program in the prison. He counsels other men, just as the older inmate counseled him. He helps them navigate addiction, family strife and disputes with other prisoners.<\/p>\n Lately, at his job in the prison restaurant, he has been making \u201ccatfish salad,\u201d as he calls it, crumbling bits of fried fish in with lettuce, tomato, pickle, onions and the jalape\u00f1os he buys from the canteen.<\/p>\n He wrestles with the repercussions of his crime. He also battles feelings of inadequacy, not having provided for his family all these years.<\/p>\n Yet for all his sins, he believes he has a right to be useful. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m free in the heart and I\u2019m free in the mind,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s how I find happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n By Rick Rojas<\/em><\/p>\n Visuals by Rory Doyle<\/em><\/p>\n Produced by Michael Beswetherick, Heather Casey and Rebecca Lieberman. <\/p>\n Rick Rojas, Christina Morales, Julie Bosman, Anemona Hartocollis, Jack Healy, Orlando Mayorqu\u00edn, Clyde McGrady, Jenna Russell, Eduardo Medina and Jazmine Ulloa contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness \u2014 those were the three inalienable rights laid out 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence, America\u2019s founding document. The last part of the phrase can also be perceived as a challenge: You have life. You have liberty. The rest is up to you. We sought to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[3840,11807,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-50863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-happiness","9":"tag-pursuit","10":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tr\u1ea7n V\u0169 Thu H\u1eb1ng, 64, Hull, Mass.<\/strong> After putting her family first for decades, Ms. Tr\u1ea7n now finds happiness in creating floral designs for museums.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThe pursuit of happiness meant, first, helping my family with seven younger siblings when we escaped Vietnam, and, second, rearing my own three fantastic children and keeping the flame on my marriage to my college sweetheart. Now, 12 years later, happiness comes from the arts.\u201d<\/h2>\n
David Gardner, 60, Washington<\/strong> Mr. Gardner co-founded The Motley Fool, the stock-picking website. Investing is not just about making money, he says, but learning about the world around him.<\/h3>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to go through this world and not be stung, hurt, surprised at different points throughout life. But if you\u2019re looking for the positive thing, you’re going to find it.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Min Jin Lee, 57, New York City<\/strong> In her 20s, Ms. Lee quit the law to write novels, including the best-selling \u201cPachinko.\u201d She wanted work she cared deeply about, not money or recognition.<\/h3>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve found lots of happiness in my life. It wasn\u2019t because I looked for it. It\u2019s because I did my work, and because I feel OK with the way I live.\u201d<\/h2>\n
David Leavitt, 65, Gainesville, Fla.<\/strong> Mr. Leavitt, an author and creative writing professor, has come to accept students may find happiness pursuing safer paths, like law school.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve diverted from the pursuit of happiness in favor of the pursuit of security. Security is a form of happiness.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Sage Andrew Romero, 46, Big Pine, Calif.<\/strong> Mr. Romero, an artist and member of the Paiute and Taos tribes, teaches younger generations about Native customs and culture through song, dance and art.<\/h3>\n
\u201cTo be able to grow old and to be able to see my community thriving with our Native song, with our Native dance, with our languages \u2014 showing that we still have resilience, that we\u2019re still here \u2014 to me, that\u2019s the pursuit of happiness.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Thayer Wilson, 24, Cincinnati<\/strong> Ms. Wilson, who started sewing this year, finds happiness through creating clothing for herself and connecting with her mother, who helps her with challenging projects.<\/h3>\n
\u201cSewing is creating a moment of happiness for myself. I have all these goals. I still want to buy a house one day. I still kind of want to have a family. So there are a lot of these big dreams that are going to take a long time to get to.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Tangala Hollis-Palmer, 42, Grenada, Miss.<\/strong> Ms. Hollis-Palmer, a lawyer, prays \u2014 with her children before school, at the start of trials, with people who have made mistakes. Her spirituality fortifies her.<\/h3>\n
\u201cI am proud to be an American. However, there are -isms that I face that people in my community don\u2019t face, be it ageism, sexism, or racism. And so my spirituality has been my cornerstone of my strength to face those -isms in this great country.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Evan Moss, 32, Fayetteville, Ark.<\/strong> Mr. Moss has found joy in being with the friends in the LGBTQ community that he has made throughout the country.<\/h3>\n
\u201cFor me, the pursuit of happiness is being able to live my life freely as a gay man.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Jaleh Fazel, 84, New York City<\/strong> Ms. Fazel was 10 when she first saw someone making pottery in her native Iran. Teaching pottery, she says, pays the rent and gives her life meaning.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThat has kept me going all these years. Sometimes life has surprises, but if you have something to anchor you it\u2019s very helpful.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Laurie Santos, 50, New Haven, Conn.<\/strong> Dr. Santos teaches \u201cPsychology and the Good Life,\u201d a popular course at Yale. Behaving with generosity toward others, she says, is what brings happiness.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThe irony is that pursuing happiness actively can sometimes take us away from happiness.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Olanike Olowokere, 29, Salt Lake City<\/strong> As a cancer researcher, Ms. Olowokere studies how cells respond to stress \u2014 how some environments promote healing while others do not.<\/h3>\n
\u201cIn the lab, I study how signals can push cells toward persistence or recovery. Outside the lab, I\u2019ve come to see happiness in a similar light: not as the absence of stress, but as the ability to return to balance.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Frank Bennett, 56, Emerson, Ga.<\/strong> Mr. Bennett, the founding pastor at Lake Point Church, describes life as a wheel with different spokes: family, work, community and himself. His relationship with God is at the center.<\/h3>\n
\u201cI can fabricate happiness, but joy is a result of the pursuit of something that Jesus told us: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. You put that in the center, then everything else will be in balance.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Hadley Vlahos, 33, Biloxi, Miss.<\/strong> Ms. Vlahos, a hospice nurse, has learned about happiness from her patients. It\u2019s not about experiencing extraordinary moments, but making the most of ordinary ones.<\/h3>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all going to die someday. It\u2019s good to be constantly reminded of it, to try to live life to the fullest.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Stephen Martinez, 58, Grand Junction, Colo.<\/strong> Mr. Martinez was released from prison after 27 years when his murder conviction was overturned. He seeks happiness by focusing on the little things he missed.<\/h3>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to be able to go outside, to look around and not see razor wire. To come through the mountains that everyone takes for granted.\u201d<\/h2>\n
David D\u2019Antonio, 65, Oakland, Calif.<\/strong> Mr. D\u2019Antonio just completed his 35th year coaching wrestling at Bancroft Middle School.<\/h3>\n
\u201cWatching my wrestlers, both boys and girls, overcome fears, push beyond their limitations, make the impossible possible, brings me the greatest joy. Watching these young individuals struggle as they pursue their goals, and I have a hand in it \u2014 well, that is happiness.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Manuel Coronado, 26, Boston<\/strong> Mr. Coronado grew up in Panama with two options: farming or fishing. He came to the U.S. at 18 and plans to become an immigration lawyer.<\/h3>\n
\u201cI have advantages \u2014 a second language, documentation. I have an opportunity to do something.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Natalia Matiitsiv, 39, DeWitt, Iowa<\/strong> Ms. Matiitsiv and her family fled Ukraine and found refuge in Iowa under a temporary humanitarian program. The sunflower fields there bring her happiness.<\/h3>\n
\u201cMaybe it\u2019s because we escaped from the war and I can see how cruel people can be. But here I see how kids are welcoming to my kids. How my boss is good for me. How our neighbors are ready to help us.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Johnny Novokmet, 30, New York City<\/strong> Reviews of rotisserie chicken brought Mr. Novokmet internet fame. Now he takes videos of himself walking 100,000 steps in a day, including through Tokyo and New York.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThe different little cultural aspect of it is awesome and brings me a lot of happiness, and just doing something really hard brings me a lot of happiness, like accomplishing something you don\u2019t know you can accomplish. It just makes anyone feel good.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Scott Simpson, 53, Greensboro, N.C.<\/strong> Mr. Simpson was addicted to drugs through college, his marriage and his son\u2019s birth. Fellowship Hall, a treatment center, helped him stop. Now he’s a counselor.<\/h3>\n
\u201cAddiction takes up the space of other normal, everyday desires for happiness: Having a family, a meaningful career, feeling OK about yourself when you lay your head on the pillow.\u201d<\/h2>\n