Peace: The Ultimate Goal

Peace: The Ultimate Goal

Life has a strange way of delivering exactly what you need, right when you need it. Sometimes, it feels so eerily well-timed that I half-jokingly wonder if TikTok has started sharing its algorithm with the universe. Somehow, both seem to bring the right people, conversations, and realizations into focus at just the right moments.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and in honor of that, Lehigh’s Flight 45 program hosted a discussion on mental health in athletics (with free ice cream, of course). After a long, rough day, curling up in bed sounded much more appealing—but a text from my coach reminding me of the event was enough to get me out the door.

The discussion started with a heartbreaking reality: the increasing number of suicides within NCAA athletics. From there, we broke into small groups to share personal experiences and coping strategies. That’s when a staff member asked a simple yet profound question:

"What does mental health mean to you?"

For a second, I had no idea how to answer. I could tell you when my mental health is good, and I could definitely tell you when it’s not—but defining it? That took a minute.

Eventually, I landed on this: Mental health is a state of peace. Not the absence of struggles, but the ability to remain at peace with yourself through them. When I said this, others in the group nodded in agreement. We all recognized that happiness isn’t a constant state, but peace? That’s something we could strive for.

A Lesson from Life (and Lecture Slides)

The next day, in a completely unrelated class, the topic of discussion just so happened to be mental health and addiction. The first slide read:

"Mental health involves effective functioning in daily activities, resulting in productive actions, healthy relationships, and the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity."

Adapting to change. Coping with adversity. Maintaining peace through the struggle. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Thanks, life, for the extra clarity.

Why Peace Over Happiness?

Adversity is inevitable. It will strike me, you, and everyone we know. Avoiding it? Unlikely. But coping with it, growing from it, and maintaining peace through it? That’s possible.

In previous posts, I wrote about chasing happiness. But over the past few months, I’ve realized happiness isn’t the goal anymore. Happiness is fleeting—here on the good days, gone on the hard ones. If you make it your goal, you’ll always feel like you’re falling short.

Peace is the goal.

Peace is trusting yourself enough to know you’ll make it through the tough moments. It’s believing there’s a bigger plan, even when things don’t make sense. It’s having faith that, with patience, everything meant for you will come in time.

Building Peace, Not Just Finding It

Unlike happiness, which can appear and disappear in an instant, peace takes time and intention. It requires self-acceptance, patience, and trust in yourself. It’s a foundation—one that will carry you through whatever life throws your way.

So invest in it. Invest in yourself. Because at the end of the day, your mind is the one thing you’ll be with forever.

GOOD VIBES ONLYYYY,
Kenzie