It is noted that happiness is the key to a wonderful and beautiful life. In David Foster Wallace's story, This Is Water, Wallace explains that going through everyday life with a positive outlook and attitude can change how one handles the " day in and day out," (Wallace, XII-XIV) while questioning the meaning of life, itself. This Is Water, written for the Kenyon College 2005 graduating class, says it does not matter how frustrating or tiring life may seem, one should never have a negative perspective because it leads to a troubled life. After Wallace hung himself in 2008, it was discovered that he was suffering from depression for twenty years. In This is Water, one can feel a sense of yearning in what he was trying to convey. He was telling the students not to let everyday life feel like a job but rather to live positively. Life is made memorable and joyous in one's own surroundings by having a positive outlook, living life differently than others, and the power of freedom. 

People constantly ask what life is really about. Well, what the heck is life? "What the hell is water?" (Wallace XII). Life is about being optimistic; life is about finding who one is in this world; life is finding happiness in everything. Happiness is in everything, as twisted as it may be. People can find happiness in just about everything: reading, writing, walking, sports, academics, and sometimes even in a twisted manner like murder. A great amount of people live with being unhappy and angry all the time, and they try to avoid it, but one must understand that one cannot escape it. The same idea that is provided by the movie, Rocky Balboa, is describing life as hard, difficult, and definitely a pain in the behind. It says that no matter how hard life will come at a person, but to keep going and not to give up or let anything anger or upset one.

"Let me tell you something you already know the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward how much you can take and keep moving forward, that's how winning is done." (Rocky)

What one must do is, take a step back, and just decide how one must be and go for it. "The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing comes in," (Wallace, XIV). Wallace explains that one chooses to act frustrated, angry, etc. at the world. It is strictly the person's decision on whether or not they should change and see life in a positive outlook and take others into consideration as well, but one should know that one cannot know what life is going to be like; they can choose how they react, and only then is that a measurement of one as a person, and life can then be made into something positive. 

Different people live different lives. A lot of people live life with regret, anger, and grudges. On the other hand, others live life with happiness and no regrets. One can live life differently by just doing that, doing things differently; not being in a desk job; not doing the same thing, hour by hour, days after days, months after months, year after year. One must choose to be optimistic, wear one's heart on their sleeve, adapt to one's surroundings, take other's feelings into consideration, and so on and so forth. Wallace explains to the reader that when given a choice, it is all up to them; they choose to act the way that they do. 

"Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice or that I'm saying you're 'supposed to' think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it's hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you're like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat-out won't want to. But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-lady who just screamed at her little child in the checkout line- maybe she's not usually like this; maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of her husband who's dying of bone cancer, or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the Motor Vehicle Dept. who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a nightmarish red-tape problem though some small act of bureaucratic kindness," (Wallace, XV-XVI).

That is when choices come into play; happiness is in the choice. 

The power of freedom is something to take into consideration when finding happiness. With freedom, there are endless possibilities of what to be free about: how to worship, jobs, cars, etc. Wallace talks about the kind of freedom that is beneficial to those surrounding one. "The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able to truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in a myriad petty little unsexy ways, everyday. That is real freedom," (Wallace, XVII). By having this freedom, one can find a sense of peace and accomplishment in assisting others, therefore increasing their happiness. 

In the year of 2008, Wallace took his own life and hanged himself. It was discovered that he had depression for a long period of time, which is what caused his death. "It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out," (Wallace XVII). In This Is Water Wallace was trying to convey to the class of 2005 to live their life to the fullest and always be happy because Wallace never had the chance to. He wanted them to have a life worth living for. The story explains what life is really about and how analyzing life in a positive perspective rather than a negative one can benefit a person in the long run. 

