At the age of 4, I began attending the choir at St. James Church. My mother decided that joining the choir would provide me with musical instruction. I was initially joined by a lot of kids at St. James, making choir a fun, social task, but as I grew older, one by one, my friends began dropping out.

St. James was situated on the Upper East Side, one of the fanciest areas in New York, while I came from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Some children at the choir proudly showed off the signs of their good education whose cost was nearly as much as my mother’s yearly wage, while I wore my uniform of jeans and a T­shirt. They knew me as the girl from Brooklyn, the chorister who went to public school. This discrepancy (差异) made me very uncomfortable.

I begged my mom to let me follow the path of my friends, but she replied with a “NO”. As the years went on, I continued to bother my mother. Her answers began to lessen in severity. She said “Just do it for one more year” or “Are you sure?” Not seeing much hope, I began to withdraw my constant requests. Gradually I enjoyed finding my voice every week in church. After years in the choir, people started to acknowledge me for my voice rather than my address and I began to appreciate music and my habitual complaints (抱怨) about the choir were completely gone.

Through the choir, I learned that if you continue with something long enough, you will   receive some sort of benefit from it and maybe even grow to love it. Because of the choir，I found my voice in a small church. Because of the choir, I am willing to go wherever life will take me with an open mind.

No matter what your goals are in life, there is one great law that you need to obey in order to be successful: No one else is going to climb the ladder (梯子) of success for you. 【小题1】 Prom the day you leave your parents’ house, you are responsible for your life and the choices you make.

If you want a better life, you need to make better decisions. 【小题2】 However, it doesn’t change anything. Only you can change your life by changing the choices you make. Take responsibility for everything in your life. Even if it’s not in your direct control, you can always choose how you respond.

【小题3】 If you choose what is fun and easy over what is necessary, you will never reach the levels of success and happiness you are capable of achieving in your life. That’s because every great victory requires great sacrifice. If success was easy, everybody would be success.

There is nothing that you can’t achieve with hard work. People often think that their lives will suddenly change through some magical event in the future. 【小题4】 Your life changes only to the extent that you change. Nothing will ever change if you don’t change what you do daily.

A great way to actively create your future is to ask yourself: If I already achieved my goals, how would I act on a daily basis? What books would I read, how often would I work out, and how would I spend my time at the office? 【小题5】

Happiness is an abstract （抽象的）concept. When one thinks of a typically happy person, smiling, laughing and cheering are what usually come to mind. However, if people stop smiling or laughing, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are unhappy. Happiness has many different levels, and it is difficult to place the word in one type.

Many people believe as people grow older, they will feel more happiness. However, I just find they are not always so. When my twelve - year - old sister was asked what made her happy, she initially told me that sleeping made her happy, and then she looked at me for a reaction. When I had none, she changed her answer to food, then to fashion, and then finally to family. Each time she glanced at me, she looked for affirmation （肯定）that she had given a “right answer”

My younger cousin, Who is even younger than my sister, gave me an answer that surprised me. It wasn't eating candy or watching TV that made her happy; It was love. Considering the clear differences between my sister and cousin in their answers, I came to see that age didn't always largely contribute to happiness.

When I asked my grandmother what brought her happiness, she immediately answered my family” without hesitation. This is something I expected, as my grandma Is always a family -centered person. This is also consistent （一致的）with her culture, being from Italy and growing up during the 50s, when family values were at its highest point in society.

Asking myself this question, I think carefully about my answers. Sure, my family, friends and pets make me happy, but so do reading, writing and watching movies. This is why I have no answer to my own question.

There is no one single thing that makes me the happiest, because like everybody, my mood depends on many factors. Happiness depends on external factors as well as one's personality and age. This is why I have come to the conclusion that the journey of happiness cannot truly be defined, and that there isn't one thing above all that makes everyone the happiest.