What is the difference between happiness and fulfillment? The relationship of these two words is something that has always bothered me. Many people say they want to be happy. Many people say they want to be fulfilled. What is the difference and how do they relate?

Dictionary Definitions

Happiness – A state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

Fulfillment – A feeling of satisfaction at having achieved your desires.

With those definitions here is how I see happiness and fulfillment relating…

I see happiness as a scale of an emotional state and fulfillment being the point on a person’s happiness scale where they feel satisfaction.

So how does my personal goal relate to this? My goal is to one day be consistently extremely happy. If my ultimate happiness potential is a 10 without dying then this may mean that I want to be at an 8 on a consistent basis. By my extreme standards, a consistent 8 is very hard to do. My fulfillment point right now is probably a 4. On a scale from 1-10, I would rate myself a 1 in consistent happiness right now. That sounds low but it is not relative to most people! It is hard for me to even feel sad at all at an overall 1. I would rate the average overall happy person a .10 from what I can see. Told you I have extreme standards!

Variables are always changing though, so a person’s happiness/sadness level and fulfillment point can change even if the person’s life remains the same. This could be caused by a conscious or unconscious shift within the mind. Just by achieving the fulfillment point and being there for a little while can cause this type of shift and change the person’s whole equation.

This model seems to hold true on an absolute scale of a person’s life as well as relative to specifics within it.