Millions of Americans just spent the weekend reminding themselves what they are thankful for, but what truly makes life meaningful means different things to different people. Well, a new survey asked that very question and the answers may, or may not be surprising.
The Pew Research Center conducted two polls to find out what brings meaning to folks' lives. The first simply asked the open-ended question of what makes their lives feel meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying, while the second gave respondents a set of close-ended choices.
When asked what provides people with the most meaning, the most common answer was family (69%). But answers differed after that. In the open-ended question, career was the next top choice (34%), followed by money (23%), spirituality and faith (20%) and friends (19%).
- As for the close-ended choices, following family, the thing that gives people the most meaning is being outdoors (47%), followed by spending time with friends (47%), caring for pets (45%) and listening to music. (44%).
Source: Pew Research