Absolute Happiness

I'm at this point where I re-evaluate things--personal and career life. I don't know but I think it comes with age--not saying that I'm old but it's more of realizing that I'm not getting any younger. If I don't stir things up, I just might go on living not knowing that I'm just wasting my time.

I talk to people about a lot of things--some are real-life happenings while some are situational--for me to understand (or at least try to understand) where they are coming from; and probably to gauge if the solutions in my mind are in sync with the status quo. I feel there are times that I veer away from the common-sense decisions--not to challenge the norm, but to just see things in a different light.

So in my pursuit to find my path, I opened up to a good friend and asked bluntly, "Why is it so hard to be happy?" And the reply was:

"I think it's either you're happy because you are ignorant of what you're missing out on, or you're happy because you DO know what you don't have, but you don't care."

It didn't really answer my question but that statement boggled my mind for quite some time. What did that mean? At first I wanted to say, "So you think I don't have a chance at absolute happiness? Absolute because I felt the negative connotation of being happy yet not knowing that there may be a better option out there; it's like turning a blind eye. Or being happy yet acknowledging the void and not doing anything about it.

I know there's nothing really absolute in this world but at this point, I want to get close to absolute happiness where I can honestly say I'm happy because I've exhausted all options and chose this route still or I'm happy because I realized what's missing and did something about it.

So what does it really mean?