I don’t think there’s a purpose, really; to put purpose or duty to a sense of joy is to try to quantify it, to package it - and since everyone is different, and perceives things differently, then that means joy takes just as many different forms and can’t be packaged so neatly.

I think life in every sense is more chaotic than that, and that randomization of cells or events or emotions can’t and shouldn’t be whittled down into some universal experience or explanation. Making something your “purpose” immediately brings with it a certain expectation - it almost makes it sound as if you’re trying to be happy out of duty, which seems…weird.

I don’t think you’re failing at life if you’re unhappy. Everyone has low or weak points, and that inevitably changes in some form of another. That’s one of the universals, a product of events and living situations and hormonal/genetic makeup. Sometimes people can have all their needs cater to and still your brain will fuck you over.

So I’d ask yourself why you’re looking for a purpose in the first place. It makes sense if there’s some goal you want to attain; and if that goal is happiness, it’d be best to think about some actions you could do to obtain it. If you’re not looking for that goal and just asking why people seem to pursue happiness, then the best answer I can give you is: why not? Suffering feels bad and I don’t wanna feel bad.

Lmao I read that as right whinger at first

Still apt

Adding to consumerist attachment, these days stories are also used as an escapism tool. From a fatalistic point of view, you can lose yourself in a movie for a little while, binge a series, read a book and be somewhere totally different than where you are. You can believe that for a while if the story is good enough.

There’s also the appeal of “living vicariously” through a story. I tend to enjoy stories with more focus on characters and their development, and inevitably get invested in them from the simple connection of being human. I can see the ugly side of myself within flawed characters, I can learn lessons from the mistakes of others, I can take comfort in certain emotional developments and despair in others. Stories provide a safe place to explore different points of view, ideas, emotions, and events, especially ones people don’t talk about day to day or ones that are darker than your every day life.