But, people may argue, moments on the line that are neither good nor bad are easily forgettable and therefore unimportant in the grand scheme of things, which is true for some people. But bad moments are definitely not forgettable, and, as human beings, we learn our best lessons this way.
It is an unrealistic expectation to want your entire life to be happy, as we discussed, but honestly, I don't think being happy all the time is exactly what people mean when they say "My goal in life is to be happy." Yes, it might be vague and cause another person to roll their eyes, but really if someone's goal is this, they most likely mean that they want the good times in their life to outweigh the bad. They know that bad things always happen, as do mediocre things, but they want their version of normal to be better than everyone else's version of normal. They want to shift their sine curve upward, increase their y-values. But that brings the discussion back to what is valuable in a life: what makes people "successful" or "better" than others? And then it just becomes a circle where people say "I want to be happy by being successful and you know you're successful when you're happy" and all that. So then the real question is lost. There is a motivating factor behind both of these answers. There is definitely a Something that makes a general quality of life better for certain people rather than others, Something that makes them happier or more fulfilled. I guess I have yet to find it.
