“We have more rights to control our own lives than we have to control anything else and exercising this right brings happiness.”

Much of life lies outside personal control. Other people, chance, and changing conditions can all alter what happens. Yet this does not make every part of life equally unreachable. The strongest claim we can make is over our own choices and the parts of life those choices can shape. Using that control creates order. It can also bring happiness because a person is no longer only being moved by events, but is taking part in deciding what comes next.

Even limited control can reach farther than it first appears. Caring for what is within reach changes how outside forces are met. It cannot command chance, but it can give chance less power to decide the whole direction of a life.