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Hey everyone! Brown has this 'joy essay,' where they want us to write about what brings us joy. I'm kinda lost on how to approach this. What are some good ideas or examples that you guys have come across?

Hey there! The Brown "Joy Essay" is an opportunity for you to showcase your personality and interests in a creative and authentic way. When brainstorming ideas, consider what makes you genuinely happy and what activities, events, or experiences you're truly passionate about. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Hobbies or Interests: Think about the activities you love doing in your spare time, whether it's painting, playing an instrument, cooking, or coding. Describe why these activities bring you joy and how you engage with them. You can focus on the process, challenges, or personal growth you've experienced.

2. Personal Traditions or Rituals: Do you have any special customs or traditions with your family or friends? Maybe it's an annual camping trip, a weekly movie night, or a unique holiday celebration. Share the story behind these traditions and explain why they bring happiness to your life.

3. Unexpected sources of joy: Consider moments or experiences that brought a surprising amount of happiness, even if they may seem insignificant or quirky. Perhaps it's the satisfaction of fixing something in your home or the simple pleasure of watching the sunrise. Delve into the emotions and reasons for why those experiences sparked joy.

4. Moments of self-discovery: Reflect on the journey you took to discover something that brings you joy. You could write about the process of finding a hobby, interest or passion you never expected to fall in love with, and explore how that has shaped your perception of life and your identity.

5. Joy in helping others: If you find deep pleasure in volunteering, mentoring, or making a difference in your community, describe your experiences and the impact they've had on you. Explain what motivates you to stay involved and how those moments have brought joy to you and those you've helped.

Remember that your essay should be unique to you and your experiences. Don't simply try to replicate an example you've found online or what others have written. Instead, focus on your personal story, and share your perspective with authenticity and sincerity. Good luck!

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Joy — Exploring What Brings Me Joy

Exploring What Brings Me Joy

Categories: Joy

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Words: 614 |

Published: Sep 5, 2023

Words: 614 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

The joys of creativity and expression, connection and meaningful relationships, personal growth and learning, finding joy in nature and solitude.

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JOY! Not just a character in Inside Out, but a supplement essay too!

Increasingly, schools are asking students to reflect on things that bring them joy, satisfaction, or happiness. These can be difficult to write as often the college application process is the opposite of joyful... but these joy essays are here to stay!

Note: These essays tend to range in length from 50-250 words.

Example "Joy" Questions:

Brown: Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy.
Dartmouth: What excites you?
MIT: We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.
Princeton: What brings you joy?
Stanford: Tell us about something that is meaningful to you, and why?
Yale: Reflect on something that has given you great satisfaction. Why has it been important to you?

LET'S BREAK DOWN THE ESSENTIAL POINTS YOU NEED TO HIT WHEN RESPONDING TO THIS SUPPLEMENT:

As with all supplements, every word matters here! Do not waste words in restating the question or equivocating around a definition of “joy” or “satisfaction."

Be honest! This is a space where the tendency to tell an untruth or exaggerate is probably quite strong (i.e. wanting to write about the joy you find in titrating a solution properly in your AP Chem class). These questions do not need an academic response – they do need an honest response. Think about your days – examine the moments when you are happy and feel joyful – write about those!

Help your reader SEE your joy as much as possible! If you are writing about the joy that comes from baking cakes, riding your bike around your town, or playing LEGOs with your younger brother, use descriptive language to help your reader really feel present in the moment with you. Your reader will believe your joy if you can capture it effectively and clearly! These are essays where it is so important to SHOW not tell.

Find a unique angle or approach, which often can be found deep into the specifics of your topic! Sure they might read a lot of essays about baking, so think about what you can say that is unique to you. Do you love eating what you have made? Sharing your desserts with others? Experimenting with new flavors and combinations? Your specificity will help to provide your essay with a uniqueness that is all your own.

While not every question asks it explicitly, the WHY is essential here. This essay is a great opportunity for reflection and vulnerability. Take a moment to consider why this activity or object brings you so much joy, and then dig in to share that with the school.

THINGS TO AVOID:

Cliche! Avoid all trite and cliched statements like how you love biking around town because you love the feeling of the wind in your hair… again, honesty and specificity should help you to avoid cliches.

Do not skip over your WHY: simply writing an essay about something that brings joy without diving into any specifics about why that thing brings you joy is missing an opportunity to reflect. Think of your supplements as a chance to share your ability to think deeply and don’t miss an opportunity to do so.

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS:

Look over the rest of your supplements and consider the topics that they cover. Is something missing that is essential to understanding YOU? Think about all of the things you want a college to learn about you and who you really are – and then consider what is already covered in your essays. Use this essay to go into a fully new direction to share a side of yourself that has not yet been seen.

While the questions are slightly different for each of these schools (and the word counts vary), the essence of these questions are the same. Feel free to write one joy essay and then adapt the topic to the specifics for a different school. Just because one school asks about “joy” and another about “great satisfaction” does not mean that you need to find a new topic for each one of those.

Give yourself permission to play with this type of question. This is likely one of your only opportunities to set academics aside and really speak from your heart. Use it.

Elise holds a BA in Political Philosophy from Williams College and an MEd in Administration & Social Policy from Harvard. She has spent the past twenty years working in top-tier independent schools.

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Dec 12, 2021, how do i know what brings me joy.

How Do I Know What Brings Me Joy? | Annie Wright, LMFT | www.anniewright.com

The tagline of my business – of my work in the world – is this:

Helping those who didn’t have good childhoods finally have wonderful adulthood.

In many prior essays , I speak to elements about what having a wonderful adulthood actually means and how we can begin to work toward it.

And today I want to build on those essays by talking about what I personally think another very important part of adulthood and relational trauma recovery work entails: cultivating more joy in your life.

But/and, I also and specifically want to talk about how hard it can feel for those who come from relational trauma backgrounds to even remotely know what brings them joy if they didn’t experience joy in their childhood and/or if they have a hard time connecting to their bodies.

If this is you – if the idea of what brings you joy mystifies you and you have no clue what this might mean or how to bring more of it into your life but you’re curious and eager to do so – please keep reading.

Do you come from a childhood trauma background?

Take this 5-minute quiz to find out (and more importantly, what to do about it if you do.), start the quiz, what is joy.

Joy. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But what actually is joy?

Merriam-Webster defines joy as a noun as:

A : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT

B : the expression or exhibition of such emotion : GAIETY

a state of happiness or felicity: BLISS
a source or cause of delight

And the definition of joy as a verb is:

: to experience great pleasure or delight: REJOICE

From any angle, from whatever definition you choose, joy, quite frankly, feels GOOD.

Why is joy important?

Why is joy so important?

Aside from the fact that it feels good (see the above definitions), joy is one of the keys on the emotional keyboard of life we can and should be able to access in order to proverbially play the richest and most enlivened emotional music possible.

What do I mean by this?

If you imagine a piano keyboard and all its attendant, beautiful black and ivory keys, you can imagine that each key represents an emotion that we experience in our human lives: sadness, lust, grief, horror, anger, peace, contentment, pride, impatience, love, devotion, and so forth.

With the emotional keyboard of life, the goal is not to learn and be able to play only a few keys.

The goal is, instead, to learn how to play the richest piece of music possible by developing your capacity to feel and appropriately express each of the proverbial keys on this keyboard.

And joy is one of these keys.

And it is, quite frankly, a really delightful and delicious one to feel!

I would also argue that, for those who come from relational trauma backgrounds, it becomes even more important for you to learn how to “play this key” so to speak.

Because so often when we come from relational trauma backgrounds the general overtone of our lives can be dominated by notes and themes of hardness, heaviness, suffering, fear, lack, challenge, and survival.

After so much time playing these particular keys on the keyboard and having missed out on the joy all children are entitled to early in life, we then owe it to ourselves as adults to learn how to play this proverbial key and to intentionally play it more often in the music of our days.

How do I know what brings me joy?

But how do you know what brings you joy if you had a childhood deprived of joy?

And even if you don’t come from a relational trauma background, how do you begin to feel joy when you are, quite frankly, utterly exhausted, burned out, and totally depleted given the stress, overwhelm, and responsibilities of your days?

To the latter, I would say this: it is very, very hard to feel what brings you joy when you are burned out.

So your first order of business is to rest deeply and recover from burnout and come back to a psychological and physiological baseline.

Only then will you be able to better feel what brings you joy.

And to those who identify with coming from a relational trauma background, our work to discover what brings us joy is two-fold:

We must become more embodied; and…
We must expose ourselves to more activities, experiences, and situations to see what signals joy in our bodies.

Using your body to discover what brings you joy.

I want to honor and acknowledge that, for those of us who come from relational trauma backgrounds, in order to survive our early childhoods, many of us may have learned to disconnect from our bodies — the place where we felt so many overwhelming and sometimes devastating feelings.

And so, as we ask the question – What brings me joy? – we also need to learn how to gently, slowly, attentively begin to befriend our bodies again, tracking them for the sensations that indicate we are responding to something that it is bringing us joy.

We may need to learn to become embodied again in order to figure out what brings us joy.

This may sound like a tall and overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be.

We can take teeny tiny baby steps to help you befriend your body again and track down the somatic sensations of what brings you joy.

You can start to pay attention to your breath ( In and out, In and out… ), to the sensations of warmth and coolness in your body ( Am I cold right now? Do I need socks? Am I too warm? Do I need to turn the AC on? ), to the sensations of your bowels and digestive tract ( Do I need to pee or poop? Am I hungry? Am I thirsty? ).

These questions and invitations may seem small and obvious but if you’ve spent your life divorced from your body, beginning with basic biological questions and tracking like this can help you begin to be more embodied and increase your awareness about how certain situations and experiences evoke different sensations inside of your body.

And please know: this can take time and there is not one single way that joy looks and feels for us all.

It’s subjective and unique so you will need to be your own detective to determine how and what joy feels like for you.

Joy can be big and obvious and grand, but it can also feel the teeniest, tiniest whisper, a faint trace of something that feels like a pulling-towards.

I think about that bathtub scene from Eat, Pray, Love when Julia Roberts (playing the extraordinary Elizabeth Gilbert) is sitting with her Italian dictionary, letting the words roll around in her mouth, acknowledging that the only thing she could feel anything for (in the wake of her terrible divorce) was for the Italian language and how it felt in her mouth.

And so she moved toward this thing, this felt sense of something good, no matter how slight it was. And her journey thus unfolded…

For me, I’ve learned through tracking my somatic sensations over time that joy feels like a sense of buoyancy inside of me – like a wide, soft balloon inflating inside my chest and core that makes me feel lighter that also evokes some ephemeral sense of nostalgia in me, recalling a felt sense of a time in my life where possibilities and paths felt more expansive, freer, more limitless. And so now I move towards that feeling.

But again, before I could even understand what evokes joy for me, I had to become embodied again.

Only then could I register when something brought me joy.

So after becoming more embodied and more familiar with the subtle sensations in your own body, you can then discover what brings you more joy by exposing yourself to more situations, activities, circumstances, and places that will allow you to track how they make you feel.

But how do we do this?

How do we expose ourselves to potential joy-inducing activities?

For many of my readers and clients who come from relational trauma backgrounds, as children, they may not have been exposed to a wide range of activities, hobbies, and circumstances that would have helped them identify what brings them joy.

So one of my favorite homework assignments for clients and online course students is this:

Start exposing yourself to a wide variety of activities and interests like you might with a small child to help them discover the world and their interests.

I’ll share a story: Before having my daughter, my life was really quite dominated by work – grad school, accumulating my hours for my license, blogging, laying the groundwork to open up a trauma-informed therapy center, steeping myself in post-graduate trauma training, etc.

I’m embarrassed to admit my days and weeks were pretty single note: work, work, work.

Now, please understand, I adore my work and feel like it’s a calling and not just a job.

So on the one hand, I loved what I was doing but I can also see now that I was doing a pretty poor job of giving myself adventures, variety, and stimulation in the form of new experiences, something which my inner child really craved.

But then, in 2018, along came my daughter, and my world fundamentally changed.

Life centers around her now, not my work.

And as she grew from an infant to a baby to a toddler, my desire to give her a rich, interesting, and magical childhood grew and grew and so did my desire to proactively seek out activities, experiences, and circumstances that could expose her to this wide, great world.

I proactively spend time crowdsourcing recommendations from fellow Bay Area toddler parents of places to go and things to do.

I book tickets to special events, outdoor museums, one-off shows, and we tour playgrounds all over the Bay.

I make sure to introduce her to different cuisines, different vistas, different types of music and books, and art supplies.

I intentionally cultivate and create opportunities for her to experience newness and potentially discover her new favorite things.

Parenting my daughter so intentionally has helped me experience more adventures in my own weeks, but has also catalyzed me to think more deliberately about how to give myself the adult equivalent of what I give her: new experiences, diverse activities, little adventures so that I can have the chance to register joy in my body more.

So if you, like so many of us who come from relational trauma backgrounds, have a hard time discovering what brings you joy, focus on becoming more embodied as a first step, but then try giving yourself what a good-enough parent would give to their growing child: a diverse array of activities, experiences, and adventures to see what in this big, beautiful world can evoke joy in your body.

And then double down on what you notice does bring you joy.

Do this again and again so you can play that keyboard key as often as possible to make your days and weeks feel better.

What’s bringing me joy these days…

And now, to wrap up this essay, I want to share what’s personally bringing me joy these days – allowing me to register that delicious somatic sensation in my body:

Watching (and re-watching) the incredible TV show Ted Lasso and then talking about it with my husband and best girlfriends after new shows come out on Fridays (digesting it with my loved ones is more fun than the show for me!).
Listening to Glennon Doyle’s terrific podcast We Can Do Hard Things twice a week when it comes out.
90’s music bike rides and runs on Peloton – 90’s were the time I came of age and every song from that era is super nostalgic for me (ditto the Disney-themed rides and runs on Peloton!).
The Christmas tree whose every square inch is covered by ornaments and whose size is taking up a good third of our teeny tiny living room; also the nutcrackers on our mantel, the red and white striped stockings hung, and Christmas music playlists on Spotify.
Balsam fir scented candles burned for no special reason, just because.
Wearing blouses with pretty little colorful prints.
Making my daughter’s daily preschool lunches in her Planet Rover bento lunch box – it is so little and cute and feels both like I’m making miniature meals for a doll and it reminds me of the time my husband and I visited Japan and I became obsessed with the ekiben on the bullet trains…
Listening to cello music while sitting in my hot tub in the afternoon sun…
And finally, this past Spring in Yosemite, feeling profoundly joyful riding a rented bike with an attached trailer with my daughter sitting in it, feeling the strength of my Peloton-trained muscles as I drove us both all over the valley…

And now I’d love to hear from you in the comments below:

What is bringing YOU joy these days? What experiences, circumstances, places, and things make you feel joyful? And another question: How – as an adult – did you begin to notice and re-discover what brings you joy?

If you feel so inclined, please leave a comment below so our monthly blog readership of 20,000+ souls can benefit from your wisdom and experience.

If you would personally like support around this and you live in California or Florida , please feel free to reach out to me directly to explore therapy together.

If you live outside of these states, please consider enrolling in the waitlist for the Relational Trauma Recovery School – or my signature online course, Hard Families, Good Boundaries , designed to support you in healing your adverse early beginnings and create a beautiful adulthood for yourself, no matter where you started out in life.

And until next time, please take such good care of yourself. You’re so worth it.

Warmly, Annie

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Reader Interactions

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December 13, 2021 at 4:56 am

Being “embodied” is truly a new thing for me… and a blessing. My past self soothed with lengthy introspective periods which would sometimes lead me down torment lane. Sometimes depression would lead to nap a lot. As a single mom of 3, I am incredibly busy and thus have to fight to get time away to see what brings me joy. What I find frustrating is that because of my childhood, I doubt myself and what I think brings me joy so it is hard to settle on many things. If I am confident, I can arrive at a few things. If I am lacking confidence, I can only think of a couple things (coffee and being in the Lord’s presence).

December 20, 2021 at 5:57 pm

Thank you for your comment and for your insight. It’s true, finding our joy can take a little time and in our busy lives it can sometimes feel like a luxury to slow down and explore what truly brings us joy. I commend you for already having 2 things on your list and urge you to trust yourself to add to that list!

If either of my courses – Hard Families, Good Boundaries , or the forthcoming Relational Trauma Recovery School – could be of support to you, I would love to support you there. In the meantime, please take such good care of yourself. You’re so worth it.

December 13, 2021 at 5:58 pm

Your blog posts have helped me navigate the past two years, Annie. Thanks for sharing your wisdom here. I find joy in listening to the Spilled Milk (food comedy) podcast, taking walks by any body of water, grocery shopping, cuddling with my stuffed animal. It’s taken a long time to admit what brings me joy – I’ve feared that what brings me joy wouldn’t be accepted by my peers, especially the stuffed animal part. With the support of a kind spouse, I’ve leaned into it a lot more and am that much happier for it. Cheers to you and your team this holiday season!

December 20, 2021 at 5:58 pm

Thank you for taking the time to leave this lovely comment! I am thrilled to hear that my words have helped you as being a source of support is really my goal in all of my work. Joy is very personal and I am proud of you for leaning into exactly what makes you happy. I’m glad you have the support of a kind spouse, that is wonderful to hear.

If you feel that either of my online courses – Hard Families, Good Boundaries , or the forthcoming Relational Trauma Recovery School – could be of support to you, I’d love to work with you there and help you find even more joy.

Sending my best to you.

December 14, 2021 at 7:24 pm

I really like this newsletter about joy and it fits the season. Anything that makes you happy and content is JOY to me. Children and especially grandchildren are a big joy. Believe it or not my job brings me joy. I work with the elderly population and it does bring me happiness and joy. Make your own joy if you can. And yes simple things like burning of candles especially at this time of year. So many beautiful fragrances. Candles lit at night in the house is joy to me.

December 20, 2021 at 4:49 pm

Thank you for your comment, I’m so pleased that you enjoyed the newsletter! I appreciate your sharing some wonderful examples of what brings you joy, I’m sure many of us can relate. I appreciate the idea of making your own joy when possible, even if it’s something simple like a beautiful candle.

Thanks again for reading and sharing your experience.

August 14, 2023 at 4:17 pm

I have been lost for the longest time but after reading this, I feel like I know where to start. I need to reconnect with myself and find out what brings me joy. Thank you so much for this.

Do you come from a relational trauma background?

Take this quiz to find out (and more importantly, what to do about it if you do.), related posts.

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Strengthening your ability to keep yourself safe as an adult., get in touch., send me a message.

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7 ways to create more joy in your life.

Joy is an emotion, and emotions are wordless. They're pure physical sensations in our bodies. We express the emotion of joy in many physical ways. For example, we jump for joy when we win a hard-fought competition, or we double over in uncontrollable laughter when someone relates a hilarious story. We squeal with delight after getting a surprise gift, and whoop and holler exuberantly when we hear fantastic news. We feel buoyant and jubilant on beautiful day.

When we feel joy, we feel great about ourselves. We feel confident, powerful, capable, lovable and fulfilled. These are all good reasons to experience more joy in our life. Here are seven ways to do it.

Undertake a challenging activity with a commitment to mastering it.

Think of a project you've wanted to accomplish, whether it's creating a small flower garden in your yard, learning how to give your car a tuneup, or mastering the tango. The process of setting a goal , learning the necessary steps to achieve it, and giving it your best until you've mastered it will generate high self-esteem and pride. Those are feelings associated with joy.

Actively seek joy through inspiration.

Another way to get more joy into our lives is to find it through activities that stretch our perceptions and take us out of ordinary day-to-day life. Engaging in meditation and prayer are two obvious ways to produce a feeling of well-being, serenity, and joy. Being alone in nature is another way to feel the joy of beauty — and oneness with a greater whole.

Engage in an activity that's pleasurable and feels like play.

Do an uplifting and enjoyable activity that's not goal-oriented, but just plain fun. A few examples include throwing a Frisbee with your dog, dancing, hiking, looking at beautiful art, enjoying a concert, or making love . Play and other activities that don't have a purpose other than helping us feel relaxed and happy keep our mind focused in the present. The present is where joy lives.

Deal with the sadness that blocks joy.

When we feel sad, joy it isn't possible to also feel bubbly and exhilarated. In a place that feels safe and private, constructively express your sadness by allowing yourself to cry. While crying, acknowledge your hurts and losses. Don't indulge any negative thoughts about yourself. Just keep telling yourself, "I'm fine. It's okay to cry. I just feel sad." You'll immediately feel washed clean — even joyful.

Honor yourself consciously and frequently.

Joy doesn't come from others; it comes from within . Interrupt negative thoughts about yourself and replace them with statements that honor yourself, such as, "I'm fine the way I am. I'm whole and complete. I did my best. I can do this. I love myself . What I'm seeking is within me." Also, focus on the good and what you did well. Write down self-appreciations so you can read and say them frequently. The more you reinforce these concepts, the more they'll become reality.

Give yourself a break from the day-to-day world.

Nurture yourself. Set up a time, just for you, when you can disconnect from daily responsibilities and get away from the noise, stimulation, and demands of your world. Joy comes easily when we focus on our own needs in a caring and loving way. Get a massage . Close the door, put your feet up, and watch the world outside your window. Take a nap . These kinds of activities replenish us and give our body and soul a chance to feel pure joy. Remind yourself: My job is to take care of myself.

Say the word often and contemplate its meaning.

Repeating and contemplating the word joy can actually create that emotion. Say it over and over, varying the speed, tone, and tempo until you laugh. Notice how your body feels when you say the word. Did your chest expand? Did your face relax? Think about what joy means to you. Be as specific as possible, imagining the feeling of joy, the images it conjures up, perhaps even the people and situations who trigger joy. Sign off your emails with the word joy. Paint the word on a smooth rock and keep it on your desk. More joy will rise up if you simply invite it to do so.

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What Does Happiness Really Mean?

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How to Cultivate Happiness

How to be a happier person.

Happiness is something that people seek to find, yet what defines happiness can vary from one person to the next. Typically, happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. While happiness has many different definitions, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction.

When most people talk about the true meaning of happiness, they might be talking about how they feel in the present moment or referring to a more general sense of how they feel about life overall.

Because happiness tends to be such a broadly defined term, psychologists and other social scientists typically use the term ' subjective well-being ' when they talk about this emotional state. Just as it sounds, subjective well-being tends to focus on an individual's overall personal feelings about their life in the present.

Two key components of happiness (or subjective well-being) are:

The balance of emotions: Everyone experiences both positive and negative emotions, feelings, and moods. Happiness is generally linked to experiencing more positive feelings than negative ones.
Life satisfaction: This relates to how satisfied you feel with different areas of your life including your relationships, work, achievements, and other things that you consider important.

Another definition of happiness comes from the ancient philosopher Aristotle, who suggested that happiness is the one human desire, and all other human desires exist as a way to obtain happiness. He believed that there were four levels of happiness: happiness from immediate gratification, from comparison and achievement, from making positive contributions, and from achieving fulfillment.

Happiness, Aristotle suggested, could be achieved through the golden mean, which involves finding a balance between deficiency and excess.

Signs of Happiness

While perceptions of happiness may be different from one person to the next, there are some key signs that psychologists look for when measuring and assessing happiness.

Some key signs of happiness include:

Feeling like you are living the life you wanted
Going with the flow and a willingness to take life as it comes
Feeling that the conditions of your life are good
Enjoying positive, healthy relationships with other people
Feeling that you have accomplished (or will accomplish) what you want in life
Feeling satisfied with your life
Feeling positive more than negative
Being open to new ideas and experiences
Practicing self-care and treating yourself with kindness and compassion
Experiencing gratitude
Feeling that you are living life with a sense of meaning and purpose
Wanting to share your happiness and joy with others

One important thing to remember is that happiness isn't a state of constant euphoria . Instead, happiness is an overall sense of experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones.

Happy people still feel the whole range of human emotions—anger, frustrastion, boredom, loneliness, and even sadness—from time to time. But even when faced with discomfort, they have an underlying sense of optimism that things will get better, that they can deal with what is happening, and that they will be able to feel happy again.

"Even people who have experienced terrible trauma can still also experience happiness," says Hannah Owens, LMSW , "though it is important to recognize that it might be more difficult for them to obtain the balance generally associated with overall happiness, and that their happiness might look very different from others' who have not had to deal with such challenges."

Types of Happiness

There are many different ways of thinking about happiness. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle made a distinction between two different kinds of happiness: hedonia and eudaimonia.

Hedonia: Hedonic happiness is derived from pleasure. It is most often associated with doing what feels good, self-care, fulfilling desires, experiencing enjoyment, and feeling a sense of satisfaction.
Eudaimonia: This type of happiness is derived from seeking virtue and meaning. Important components of eudaimonic well-being including feeling that your life has meaning, value, and purpose. It is associated more with fulfilling responsibilities, investing in long-term goals, concern for the welfare of other people, and living up to personal ideals.

Hedonia and eudemonia are more commonly known today in psychology as pleasure and meaning, respectively. More recently, psychologists have suggested the addition of the third component that relates to engagement . These are feelings of commitment and participation in different areas of life.

Research suggests that happy people tend to rank pretty high on eudaimonic life satisfaction and better than average on their hedonic life satisfaction.

All of these can play an important role in the overall experience of happiness, although the relative value of each can be highly subjective. Some activities may be both pleasurable and meaningful, while others might skew more one way or the other.

For example, volunteering for a cause you believe in might be more meaningful than pleasurable. Watching your favorite tv show, on the other hand, might rank lower in meaning and higher on pleasure.

Some types of happiness that may fall under these three main categories include:

Joy: A often relatively brief feeling that is felt in the present moment
Excitement: A happy feeling that involves looking forward to something with positive anticipation
Gratitude: A positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative
Pride: A feeling of satisfaction in something that you have accomplished
Optimism: This is a way of looking at life with a positive, upbeat outlook
Contentment: This type of happiness involves a sense of satisfaction

While some people just tend to be naturally happier, there are things that you can do to cultivate your sense of happiness.

Pursue Intrinsic Goals

Achieving goals that you are intrinsically motivated to pursue, particularly ones that are focused on personal growth and community, can help boost happiness. Research suggests that pursuing these types of intrinsically-motivated goals can increase happiness more than pursuing extrinsic goals like gaining money or status.

Enjoy the Moment

Studies have found that people tend to over earn—they become so focused on accumulating things that they lose track of actually enjoying what they are doing.

So, rather than falling into the trap of mindlessly accumulating to the detriment of your own happiness, focus on practicing gratitude for the things you have and enjoying the process as you go.

Reframe Negative Thoughts

When you find yourself stuck in a pessimistic outlook or experiencing negativity, look for ways that you can reframe your thoughts in a more positive way.

People have a natural negativity bias , or a tendency to pay more attention to bad things than to good things. This can have an impact on everything from how you make decisions to how you form impressions of other people. Discounting the positive—a cognitive distortion where people focus on the negative and ignore the positive—can also contribute to negative thoughts.

Reframing these negative perceptions isn't about ignoring the bad. Instead, it means trying to take a more balanced, realistic look at events. It allows you to notice patterns in your thinking and then challenge negative thoughts.

Avoid Social Comparison

Another way to cultivate happiness and to make sure that you are able to maintain your happiness, Owens says, is to stop comparing yourself to others.

"No two lives are alike, and focusing on what others have is a sure-fire way to feel envy and regret. Focus on the good things in your own life, and you'll be more likely to find contentment in them," she says.

Impact of Happiness

Why is happiness so important? Happiness has been shown to predict positive outcomes in many different areas of life including mental well-being, physical health, and overall longevity.

Positive emotions increase satisfaction with life.
Happiness helps people build stronger coping skills and emotional resources.
Positive emotions are linked to better health and longevity. One study found that people who experienced more positive emotions than negative ones were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period.
Positive feelings increase resilience. Resilience helps people better manage stress and bounce back better when faced with setbacks. For example, one study found that happier people tend to have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and that these benefits tend to persist over time.
People who report having a positive state of well-being are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors such as eating fruits and vegetables and engaging in regular physical exercise.
Being happy may make help you get sick less often. Happier mental states are linked to increased immunity.

Some people seem to have a naturally higher baseline for happiness—one large-scale study of more than 2,000 twins suggested that around 50% of overall life satisfaction was due to genetics, 10% to external events, and 40% to individual activities.

So while you might not be able to control what your “base level” of happiness is, there are things that you can do to make your life happier and more fulfilling. Even the happiest of individuals can feel down from time to time and happiness is something that all people need to consciously pursue.

Cultivate Strong Relationships

Social support is an essential part of well-being. Research has found that good social relationships are the strongest predictor of happiness. Having positive and supportive connections with people you care about can provide a buffer against stress, improve your health, and help you become a happier person.

In the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a longitudinal study that looked at participants over 80 years, researchers found that relationships and how happy people are in those relationships strongly impacted overall health.

So if you are trying to improve your happiness, cultivating solid social connections is a great place to start. Consider deepening your existing relationships and explore ways to make new friends.

Get Regular Exercise

Exercise is good for both your body and mind. Physical activity is linked to a range of physical and psychological benefits including improved mood. Numerous studies have shown that regular exercise may play a role in warding off symptoms of depression, but evidence also suggests that it may also help make people happier, too.

In one analysis of past research on the connection between physical activity and happiness, researchers found a consistent positive link.

Even a little bit of exercise produces a happiness boost—people who were physically active for as little as 10 minutes a day or who worked out only once a week had higher levels of happiness than people who never exercised.

Show Gratitude

In one study, participants were asked to engage in a writing exercise for 10 to 20 minutes each night before bed. Some were instructed to write about daily hassles, some about neutral events, and some about things they were grateful for. The results found that people who had written about gratitude had increase positive emotions, increased subjective happiness, and improve life satisfaction.

As the authors of the study suggest, keeping a gratitude list is a relatively easy, affordable, simple, and pleasant way to boost your mood. Try setting aside a few minutes each night to write down or think about things in your life that you are grateful for.

Find a Sense of Purpose

Research has found that people who feel like they have a purpose have better well-being and feel more fulfilled. A sense of purpose involves seeing your life as having goals, direction, and meaning. It may help improve happiness by promoting healthier behaviors.

Some things you can do to help find a sense of purpose include:

Explore your interests and passions
Engage in prosocial and altruistic causes
Work to address injustices
Look for new things you might want to learn more about

This sense of purpose is influenced by a variety of factors, but it is also something that you can cultivate. It involves finding a goal that you care deeply about that will lead you to engage in productive, positive actions in order to work toward that goal.

Challenges of Finding Happiness

While seeking happiness is important, there are times when the pursuit of life satisfaction falls short. Some challenges to watch for include:

Valuing the Wrong Things

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but there is research that spending money on things like experiences can make you happier than spending it on material possessions.

One study, for example, found that spending money on things that buy time—such as spending money on time-saving services—can increase happiness and life satisfaction.

Rather than overvaluing things such as money, status, or material possessions, pursuing goals that result in more free time or enjoyable experiences may have a higher happiness reward.

Not Seeking Social Support

Social support means having friends and loved ones that you can turn to for support. Research has found that perceived social support plays an important role in subjective well-being. For example, one study found that perceptions of social support were responsible for 43% of a person's level of happiness.

It is important to remember that when it comes to social support, quality is more important than quantity. Having just a few very close and trusted friends will have a greater impact on your overall happiness than having many casual acquaintances.

Thinking of Happiness as an Endpoint

Happiness isn’t a goal that you can simply reach and be done with. It is a constant pursuit that requires continual nurturing and sustenance.

One study found that people who tend to value happiness most also tended to feel the least satisfied with their lives. Essentially, happiness becomes such a lofty goal that it becomes virtually unattainable.

“Valuing happiness could be self-defeating because the more people value happiness, the more likely they will feel disappointed,” suggest the authors of the study.

Perhaps the lesson is to not make something as broadly defined as “happiness” your goal. Instead, focus on building and cultivating the sort of life and relationships that bring fulfillment and satisfaction to your life.

It is also important to consider how you personally define happiness. Happiness is a broad term that means different things to different people. Rather than looking at happiness as an endpoint, it can be more helpful to think about what happiness really means to you and then work on small things that will help you become happier. This can make achieving these goals more manageable and less overwhelming.

History of Happiness

Happiness has long been recognized as a critical part of health and well-being. The "pursuit of happiness" is even given as an inalienable right in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Our understanding of what will bring happiness, however, has shifted over time.

Psychologists have also proposed a number of different theories to explain how people experience and pursue happiness. These theories include:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The hierarchy of needs suggests that people are motivated to pursue increasingly complex needs. Once more basic needs are fulfilled, people are then motivated by more psychological and emotional needs.

At the peak of the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization, or the need to achieve one's full potential. The theory also stresses the importance of peak experiences or transcendent moments in which a person feels deep understanding, happiness, and joy.

Positive Psychology

The pursuit of happiness is central to the field of positive psychology . Psychologists who study positive psychology are interested in learning ways to increase positivity and helping people live happier, more satisfying lives.

Rather than focusing on mental pathologies, the field instead strives to find ways to help people, communities, and societies improve positive emotions and achieve greater happiness.

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Kringelbach ML, Berridge KC. The neuroscience of happiness and pleasure . Soc Res (New York) . 2010;77(2):659-678.

Panel on Measuring Subjective Well-Being in a Policy-Relevant Framework; Committee on National Statistics; Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; National Research Council; Stone AA, Mackie C, editors. Subjective Well-Being: Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience [Internet]. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).

Lee MA, Kawachi I. The keys to happiness: Associations between personal values regarding core life domains and happiness in South Korea . PLoS One . 2019;14(1):e0209821. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209821

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Carstensen LL, Turan B, Scheibe S, et al. Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling . Psychol Aging . 2011;26(1):21‐33. doi:10.1037/a0021285

Steptoe A, Wardle J. Positive affect and biological function in everyday life . Neurobiol Aging . 2005;26 Suppl 1:108‐112. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.08.016

Sapranaviciute-Zabazlajeva L, Luksiene D, Virviciute D, Bobak M, Tamosiunas A. L ink between healthy lifestyle and psychological well-being in Lithuanian adults aged 45-72: a cross-sectional study . BMJ Open . 2017;7(4):e014240. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014240

Costanzo ES, Lutgendorf SK, Kohut ML, et al. Mood and cytokine response to influenza virus in older adults . J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci . 2004;59(12):1328‐1333. doi:10.1093/gerona/59.12.1328

Lyubomirsky S, Sheldon KM, Schkade D. Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change . Review of General Psychology. 2005;9 (2):111–131. doi:0.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111

The Harvard Gazette. Good genes are nice, but joy is better .

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Whillans AV, Dunn EW, Smeets P, Bekkers R, Norton MI. Buying time promotes happiness . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2017;114(32):8523‐8527. doi:10.1073/pnas.1706541114

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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What Makes You Happy? 10 Different Answers With Examples

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Sources of happiness

My own answer to happiness, 1. appreciating the small things, 2. spending time with our loved ones, 3. expressing love and feeling loved, 4. doing our favorite activities, 5. experiencing new things, 6. achieving our goals, 7. taking care of ourselves, 8. giving back, 9. living our purpose, 10. feeling content, wrapping up.

We all have various sources of happiness. But to help you reflect on what truly makes you happy, breaking them down into categories can make the process easier.

According to a book entitled Happiness: A Very Short Introduction by philosophy professor Dr. Haybron, there are 5 key sources of happiness which are as follows:

Security: Experiencing a sense of stability and predictability in our lives can lead to feelings of calmness, contentment, and happiness.
Relationships: Spending time with family and friends, building strong social connections, and having a supportive partner are all sources of happiness for many people.
Outlook: Practicing gratitude and focusing on the positive aspects of life can increase happiness levels and reduce stress and anxiety.
Autonomy: Making independent choices and having control over one’s life, has been found to be a significant source of happiness and fulfillment.
Skilled and meaningful activity: Engaging in activities that allow us to find a sense of purpose can increase overall life satisfaction and happiness.

These are just a few examples of the many sources of happiness, and what brings happiness to one person may not necessarily bring happiness to another. Ultimately, happiness is a subjective experience that can be influenced by a variety of factors, both internal and external.

When I think about what makes me happy, I’d like to go for things that don’t take too much effort or cost me a lot.

For example, being happy in a relationship doesn’t have to mean grand expressions of love. It can be cooking our favorite meal together on a Tuesday night, or receiving a compliment at a random moment.

When I think about happiness in my everyday life, it can be as simple as feeling the warm sun on my skin or seeing a baby smile at me on the bus. It’s those tiny encounters that instantly lift my mood.

When I find joy in humble and innocent moments like these, it creates a positive change in my perspective on life. I realize that life can be pure bliss when we know the value of contentment!

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10 answers to the question “What makes you happy?”

If you’re exploring the ways to respond to this question, here are some examples worth reflecting on:

Enjoying simple pleasures, such as reading a good book, basking in the morning sun, or looking out at a nice view, can instantly spark our happiness.

Appreciating the simple joys that life brings can help us to be fully present in the moment and enjoy the experience to its fullest. Most of the time, finding happiness doesn’t have to cost us anything at all!

Loved ones can provide emotional and social support, which can help us cope with stress and adversity. This sense of social support can lead to greater happiness and well-being .

When we share experiences with the people we care about, it can also create good memories and strengthen our relationships. Whether it’s special occasions or pure quality time, making time for our loved ones can surely give us a good dose of positivity.

When we show our love to someone and we know that we’ve made them happy, it can give us a sense of fulfillment. In the same way, feeling their love in return can certainly provide the kind of joy that’s priceless.

Knowing that the people we love feel the same way can also boost our self-esteem and sense of self-worth, which can lead to greater confidence and happiness!

Whether it’s enjoying our hobbies or pursuing the work that we love, doing what makes us happy can do wonders for our mental health and overall life satisfaction.

Engaging in activities that we enjoy can also act as a form of stress relief, helping us to relax and live an easy-going life. Keep in mind that you don’t need a lot of reasons to do something but to make yourself happy!

Ever had one of those “bucket lists” of things you want to try before you reach a certain age? Surely, ticking things off this list can bring adventure and excitement to your life.

Oftentimes, we can get lost in the grind of our daily lives, and one way to break such monotony is by immersing ourselves in new experiences. So, step out of your comfort zone and enjoy all the excitement and happiness that the world has to offer!

Most of us find happiness through a sense of accomplishment. By setting goals and working towards achieving them , we attain positive feelings such as pride, satisfaction, and growth.

While it’s great to be goal-driven, it’s also important to note that true happiness is not a destination. Rather, paying close attention to our journey can help us find more meaning in everything that we choose to do.

Self-care is fundamental to our happiness and overall well-being. When we take care of ourselves , we are more capable of doing the things we love, spending time with the people we care about, and pursuing our passions in life.

Health, in all aspects, can help us experience happiness to our maximum potential. So, make sure to rest and recharge before you go back to chasing that adrenaline rush!

For some of us who have already achieved all sorts of happiness in life, contributing to other people’s happiness and welfare can further fuel our sense of purpose.

Whether it’s getting involved in charitable work or dedicating ourselves to helping our communities, knowing that we’ve made a positive impact on other people’s lives can bring us incomparable joy .

Discovering our purpose is essential to finding our own happiness. When we know what we’re most passionate about and we pursue it, we gain a sense of direction and fulfillment.

Living with purpose can also make us feel like we’re needed and that we have a place in the world. These positive beliefs can ultimately lead us to live a happy and healthy life.

Contentment is often associated with a sense of acceptance and gratitude for what one has, rather than a focus on what one lacks or desires.

People can sometimes have the tendency to keep wanting more and never feel satisfied with what they have. But, to be truly happy, we must learn a valuable lesson: that good enough is good enough. Only when we find contentment will we achieve genuine happiness.

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Happiness can feel different for everyone. From spending time with loved ones to achieving our goals, experiencing new things, and living our purpose, there are many factors that can contribute to our overall sense of well-being and fulfillment.

By exploring and embracing what brings us joy and contentment, we can create a life that is truly filled with happiness and meaning.

When someone asks you what makes you happy, how would you answer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Writer and advocate for young people’s mental health. Firm believer of validating one’s feelings, prioritizing the inner-self, and finding happiness in a plate of chicken curry.

2 thoughts on “What Makes You Happy? 10 Different Answers With Examples”

Nothing makes me happy at the moment

I’m sorry to hear, Mimi. I hope you’re pulilng through and find something to be happy about soon.

10 Ways to Bring Joy into Your Life

Mark W. Merrill

Personal Growth

Studies show a toddler will laugh an average of 200 times a day. But, by the time he becomes an adult, he will only smile 6 times daily. What will happen? Most likely, he will get steamrolled by the pressures of life. Only a few know how to find joy through faith in God, enjoying the simple things in life, and making family time a priority and not getting caught up in materialism.

If this is a personal struggle for you, here are 10 ways to bring joy back into your life.

1. Simplify

Over time we become maxed out in capacity. It leaves us stressed and unable to be productive. Streamline your life on occasion the same as you would that closet. Drop the things you are holding on to that are no longer necessary or fit who you are. Time is limited and so are you. Simplify your priorities.

2. Perspective

At times, we tend to only see the negative around us. Let’s gain a new perspective and really start picking out all the blessings we have been given. Joy surrounds us even at our darkest moments. Open your senses and receive it. Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness.

During any season, no matter where you are, nature is a great place to go to experience joy. Go hiking, ride a bike, or if you are married, simply walk hand in hand with your beautiful wife. Get outside and fill your spirit and lungs with this amazing creation we call earth.

One thing children are very good at is finding ways to have fun. Get in there and mix it up with your kids. Make funny noises. Laugh at ridiculous things.

We are not all fortunate enough to make a living doing a job we feel deep passion about. Find your passion elsewhere. What makes you come alive? Carve out time to do it.

6. Let It Go

Work on the things that are in your control. Worries can be awfully heavy . Work on the things that are in your control. Do what you can do and let your worries go.

Make time to pursue friendships on a regular basis. Try to find people you can be open with. Life is meant to be shared.

8. Challenges

When you have challenges in your life, realize that it is an opportunity for growth. Use those moments to strengthen your character and resolve.

9. Activity

Get your blood pumping by being active. Go throw the football outside with your son. Take your daughter to get ice cream after dinner and then window shop. Work out. Take a walk.

I believe we have a Father in heaven who loves us. One who cares for us just as you do with your own children, in fact, even more so. Try talking to God about your life. Seek His will for your direction and purpose.

Sound off: What in your life brings you joy?

Huddle Up Question

Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What is the most joyful thing you have ever experienced in your life?”

More Resources

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4 Questions to Identify What Brings You Joy

· we all need #joytriggers in our lives ·.

Self-care is an essential precursor to well-being. Yet in order to practice self-care that truly fills up your well-being bucket, you first need to know what it is that you actually love to do. I know that a few years back I would have been completely lost if someone had asked me – “So what is it you like to do for fun?”

Doing what we love helps us feel alive inside. Filling our lives up with things that fill-us-up seems so simple, yet it has a big impact on how happy we feel.

This post is for those of you have no idea what you love. Perhaps you’ve never given it any thought? Or perhaps the idea of just stopping and rattling off a list of things you love to do leaves you feeling absolutely clueless.

I hear ya. Keep reading.

When you’re ready, grab a notebook and use these 4 question prompts to help you compile a list of things you love. It is this “Things I Love List” that forms the cornerstone of my self-care practice.

I’d encourage you to put your list somewhere accessible and to keep adding to it as you remember or discover new things you love. If you don’t have the time right now but are committed to having more joy in your life , save this post somewhere safe and come back to when you can give it your full attention.

Here are 4 questions you can ask yourself to help tap into the things that bring you alive and make you feel warm in your heart:

1. brain dump – list all the things that immediately come to your mind that you love..

Give yourself 5-10 minutes and scribble out a messy list of all the things that come to mind when you ask: What do I love?

Don’t censor yourself. Write everything and anything that comes to mind.

Often a big part of the problem is that we don’t give ourselves the time and space we need to identify the things we enjoy. We never really reflect on what it is we need and what fills us up.

Some of the things I love: scented candles, hot showers, the beach, peppermint tea, beautiful flowers, the smell of lavender oil, reading self-help books, snuggling with my corgi, the smell of freshly cut grass, ice-cream, painting my nails, watching home remodeling shows…you get the gist!

The list doesn’t need to have any form or sense about it. As you can see, mine is a mix of all sorts of activities and experiences. If you want to organize it later you absolutely can. You may choose to filter it into lists for “quick fixes”, “daily activities” and “big things” for example.

The main aim of this question is to give yourself the uninterrupted space to reflect and really think through what you enjoy.

2. Think back to Your Childhood – What did you do in your spare time?

Think back to your childhood and teen years and ask yourself, W hat did I do for fun ? What were the activities that you were interested in when there was no pressure from the outside world? What were the games that you most loved to play?

For me, I loved to write. As a teenager, I wrote so many poems. I still have them in beautifully put together books. When I was younger than that, I can also remember adoring music. I would play my Dirty Dancing soundtrack over and over and sing with reckless abandon (who doesn’t love Hungry Eyes!).

Perhaps you liked to color, or bake, or read books, or run around outside. There are no restrictions to what may come up for you. Write from your heart.

The main aim of this question is to help you remember the things that used to bring you joy, that perhaps you’ve forgotten to make space for in your life as you’ve grown.

3. What are you Curious about? What are some of the things you’re interested in learning more about?

Grab your notepad and ask yourself – What am I curious about? What would I like to know more about, or perhaps try doing?

In Western culture, we don’t put enough value on the things that simply just interest us a little bit. Instead, we have come to overvalue things that are “productive” or move us towards a specific goal. We don’t allow ourselves the time or space to explore that which we might find interesting.

Yet just like children, adults need to “play”. To feel truly happy in our hearts, from time-to-time we need to do things just because we want to – not because we have anything to gain from it. Brene Brown and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (two famous people-researchers) both talk about this deep need within us.

A list might include: tramping and bush walking, the history of Asia, cooking or cooking classes, competitive card games, yoga, international travel.

The main aim of this question is to help you tap into the things that you might not yet know you love. If you follow your inbuilt sense of curiosity you may just find a whole new bunch of things that are worth trying that you may truly love.

4. What would your Dream Day look like?

Ask yourself: If I was away from all of the pressures of real world stuff, and money and time were no object, what would my dream day look like?

You can go into as much detail as you like, but I’d encourage you to really immerse yourself in what this could look like for you.

Mine would include a few things that I’ve already mentioned above. Specifically, I would love to be on the beach under a giant umbrella in a warm climate reading an excellent self-help book. I’d also want to eat at an amazing restaurant and take a nap. There would be a lot more detail in my dream day, but those would be some of the specifics. To summarize some of those points into things I love: self-help books, traveling to warm climates, the beach, dinning in beautiful restaurants, and napping.

The main aim of this question is to help you picture doing the things you love, rather than being forced just to list them. It is a more practical way to envision it that may work better for some people, or help you identify some more things that haven’t yet come up in your lists.

Once you’ve asked yourself these 4 questions, and given each of them the time and thought they deserve, I would encourage you to come back and reflect on your list.

We all deserve to have a life thoroughly sprinkled with things we really deep down enjoy. These are the types of things that revive and restore us, and give us the energy to keep going and giving our best to the world.

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Hi, I’m Kate. I’m a former Psychologist turned Executive Coach. I’m obsessed with the human condition and how we can live fulfilling lives. I host the Here to Thrive podcast, adore Corgis, love Psychology, Self-Care and Sleep, and refuse to take life too seriously.

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#166. One Question that Helps Me Keep the Faith

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Princeton’s “More About You” Questions: Examples + Tips

Princeton asks applicants to respond to three short-answer questions in a section titled “More About You.” These questions have a 50-word limit, which can be extremely daunting.

This post will go over the purpose of these questions, tips for writing strong responses, as well as real example responses and analysis.

Princeton “More About You” Questions

The three “More About You” questions in the 2022-2023 admissions cycle were:

What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?
What brings you joy?
What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?

These are questions that might come up in casual conversation, and the goal is to learn “more about you” in a down-to-earth way. This is an opportunity to humanize your application and show more of your “fun” side.

Tips for Princeton’s “More About You” Questions

These short-answer questions are really unlike other parts of your application. Here are our expert tips for writing an engaging response that will win over admissions officers.

1. Be more casual

These are casual questions, so you want your response to feel down-to-earth as well. There’s no need for academic writing here, or even complete sentences. You can even use slang!

Just make sure that your response is still well-written; it should feel like a response in a conversation to an acquaintance or stranger, not like something you’d text a friend.

2. Maximize the word count.

Do not repeat the question in your response. You only have 50 words, so make the most of them! Dive right into your answer.

3. Pay attention to presentation.

Grammatical and formatting mistakes will stand out even more in a short-answer question. Other than maybe using some stylistic fragments, make sure your grammar is correct. You should especially double-check spacing and punctuation/

4. Get an extra set of eyes on your responses.

While most students think to get their college essays edited, these short-answers may not feel like they need an extra set of eyes. Since these are still an important part of your application to Princeton, we recommend having someone else look over your responses. A friend is a great choice since these are more casual questions, and your friend can let you know if your personality shines through.

We also recommend using our free Peer Essay Review platform , where you can get feedback from another student. And, you can review other students’ essays to improve your own writing. If you prefer to have an admissions expert review your essay, you can do so as well on CollegeVine.

Princeton “More About You” Examples

Here are a couple strong responses to the “More About You” questions, as well as analysis on what the writers did well and what could be improved.

Example 1: Joy

Prompt: What brings you joy? (50 words)

The ancient, burlesque sounds of the violin. I love the feeling of completion, when I can finally play a piece I’ve been working at for months. The glide of a slur, the bounce of the spiccato, plentiful accents and tones; The diversity of music lights a fire in my heart.

What the Response Did Well

This answer feels authentic. The student’s use of unique descriptors like “burlesque” and “bounce” communicate to the reader that they have a unique relationship with the violin — one that brings them joy in a specific and special way.

At the same time, the idea of “the feeling of completion” bringing joy is extremely relatable. This student pulls off unique and relatable in the same short answer.

What Could Be Improved

Small mistakes make big impressions in short answers. For example, the word following a semicolon should not be capitalized. While this kind of grammar error could go unnoticed in a larger essay, it stands out when it is one of fifty words.

Example 2: Soundtrack

Prompt: What song represents the soundtrack of your life at the moment? (50 words)

As I sit lost in thought, an urge to stand and pace overwhelms me. The floorboards creaking echoes through the quiet–a familiar symphony accompanying my musings. New ideas take form, energizing, exciting me. In a way, floorboards are my muses fostering my creativity and inspiration, my growth and learning.

This student’s answer is more memorable than traditional answers due to their unique interpretation of the word “soundtrack.” I’m sure this is the only creaking floorboards essay that was submitted to Princeton last year! Originality and setting yourself apart from others is of the utmost importance during the college admissions process.

Admissions officers spend very little time reading short responses and don’t want to parse through your words to find your answer. Because of its roundabout structure, this response requires a second read for an aha moment (“Ohhh the creaking floorboards are the soundtrack!”).

Additionally, your response to a short answer question doesn’t have to be eloquent or figurative. It can be more like an answer to an interview question — to the point, memorable, and honest. This student might have been better off with a casual structure, writing something like:

The sound I hear most often is the creaking of my floorboards, so I’ll call that the soundtrack of my life. I pace when memorizing things, when trying to inspire creativity, when working through complex ideas. My floorboards are probably tired, but pacing is my method.

Finally, like with Example 6, the use of a double hyphen instead of an em dash (—) stands out in a short answer question. Ensure that your grammar is impeccable in your short answers.

More Princeton Essay Resources

How to Write the Princeton Essays

Princeton Essay Examples