Last summer, BYU alum Joshua Miner rode his bike from Canada to Mexico and interviewed over 250 people about what makes them happy along the way.
"Doing a long distance bike ride was something that I saw in a magazine in a dentist office when I was, like, ten," Miner said. "And I was like, 'That'd be cool to do something like that someday.'"
When his summer internship didn't pan out, he got his chance. Miner decided to bike from Tacoma, Washington all the way to Tijuana, Mexico with the intent to learn more about happiness.
"Whether our interaction was thirty minutes or thirty seconds," Miner said, "I asked people what their name was, where they were from and what made them happy, and got a selfie with them."
He struck up conversations everywhere — gas stations, campsites and even beaches.
"Most people's responses were like totally different. There are only a couple of people that said 'family,' (a) couple people that said 'God,' when I was like, 'Oh, those are going to be the two,'" Miner said. "Some people would say, 'Disneyland makes me happy,' or, 'Colors make me happy,' or 'Chickens make me happy,' or just random stuff like that."
After getting a flat tire in Oregon, a local named Max gave Miner a lift and shared with him how battling cancer completely changed his outlook on happiness.
"He said that having cancer totally made him reevaluate his life, reevaluate what is important, reevaluate what is worth stressing about," Miner said.
By the end of his coast to coast trek, Miner realized that happiness, no matter how it manifests itself, is universal, he said.
"Everyone shares happiness," Miner said. "That's what the theme was. But the way of achieving that happiness is different."
Although his experience is over, Miner hopes to continue sharing his story with others.