Eudaimonia is a Greek word that roughly translates to ‘Flourishing’. Even though many scholars have loosely translated the word to mean happiness, there is a difference because it completes the inadequacies of happiness.

Aristotle and Plato emphasized eudaimonia to mean a positive and divine state of being- the highest human good that everyone should aspire to attain. Therefore, to attain this state would mean to be the perfect human worthy of emulation by others.

In the works of Aristotle, he defines eudaimonia to mean having or being in ‘good spirit’. For him, one could only attain eudaimonia by living a virtuous life. However, it will be difficult to compare Aristotle’s interpretation to what we think of happiness by today’s standards because, for the most part, we consider a ‘flourishing’ or ‘happy’ person to mean someone who is healthy, relatively wealthy, and in a good mood.

When thinking of happiness, we rarely ever stop to consider virtuousness. Perhaps, that’s because living a virtuous life is no guarantee of happiness, as a virtuous person will sometimes have to forfeit pleasurable things for the sake of goodness, which brings us back to why the word “happiness” doesn’t do justice to the Greek word ‘eudaimonia’.

Unfortunately, our seemingly innocent view of seeing happiness as life’s ultimate goal has caused us to struggle to articulate the purpose of our relationships, jobs, and entire lives. We find ourselves excessively relying on the need to derive joy on a quotidian basis from these things. So when faced with challenging situations that leave us unhappy, we feel unfairly treated and are tempted to exit.

Eudaimonia satisfies that psychological nuance that is difficult to express with the word happiness by encouraging us to embrace the fact that many of life’s most meaningful projects will at times be at odds with happiness, but they are worth pursuing regardless.

In simple terms, it is possible to experience fulfillment from something that doesn’t necessarily make you happy. For instance, a bricklayer who works under harsh conditions that leave him exhausted and thirsty can confidently say he is flourishing simply because he knows that the end result is worth the pain and discomfort.

So whether it’s completing a course, venturing into a new career path, raising a child, or nurturing a relationship… eudaimonia makes us understand that none of these activities are guaranteed to leave us feeling cheerful every day. Instead, they are more likely to challenge, provoke, and exhaust us, yet they are worth taking because through them, we become grander and a part of something greater than ourselves – we become capable of making a difference!