21 year old here who just graduated college and will be moving soon to start my new job/career, and yeah, I'm honestly pretty happy. I really do like who I am. I like the people who are close to me. I like what I've done. I like how my life is going. I've been ridiculously fortunate in so many ways that it's hard to think about my life and not just feel grateful and content.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, I feel like seeing how unhappy a lot of people around me are over the past few years at college has made me so much more appreciative of my own mental health and confidence in who I am.

I wasn't always as happy/content as I am now, because growing up I was the sort of stereotypically overachieving, goal-driven, ambitious type. It's hard to be really happy and at peace with yourself when you're just constantly looking ahead at the next rung on the ladder for you to grab.

But then I got into my dream college, and was surrounded by really extraordinary and brilliant people all the time. And at that point you kind of need to let go of any unhealthy need to constantly be the best at everything you do, because it's just not going to happen. And I accepted that, and as things kept working out for me academically/professionally, I relaxed and came to realize that there's so much out there that is so much more important than achievements/superficial success. I realized that it's more important to be good than to be great; better to be kind than to be smart. Of course, it's easy for me to say that when I also landed my dream job in my dream city after graduation, but I think even if you took away the rungs of the ladder, I'm still in a happier, healthier place than I was before college.

That said, being happy/content/at peace with myself doesn't mean that I'm never sad or stressed or angry or insecure. I am, sometimes. It just isn't a core part of my experience though, and whenever I am under the cloud of a negative emotion, it's always just something that passes. And even as I'm being sad or stressed or angry, I know that I'll be just fine. I'm young, healthy, my life is good, I have people I care about who care about me, my career is off to a great start, I'll never have to worry about financial stability, and I have an exciting and unknown future out there waiting for me. Yeah, I'm happy.