Which is the best way to obtain happiness: by improving your reality or lowering your expectations?

I saw this quote on Twitter from someone I follow. I'm not sure if this is his own quote or if it's a quote from someone else, but it really got me to ponder upon it a lot. The quote goes: "A mathmetical formula for happiness: Reality divided by Expectations. Two ways to be happy: Improve your reality or lower you expectations."

To me, it's not just about being happy but it's also about being successful. Being successful can be pretty difficult to obtain, unless, of course, you were born with it or it was handed down to you. But for the millions of people out there, who I think generally want to be rich and successful, how do they plan on getting it? Education is one way of getting it.

Currently I am a trainee at a financial company, hoping that it will help me to save up enough money for college next year. It is hard to believe that I am close to being in the financial industry, considering that I am ridiculously obsessed with filmmaking and that's all I want to do, but in order to get there I have to make some sacrifices. Don't get me wrong, though; I like the financial company I'm with, but sometimes I just have to cry over it. One night after training, I came home depressed. I was depressed because I missed working in a studio, working with a team and a camera, and just missed making short films. My dad noticed it, so we had a talk. He asked me if being a part of the financial company was really what I wanted to do. I answered: it's not really what I want to do, but I'm doing it to save up for college. Now, my dad does not want me to go to the college I want to go to mostly because it is a private school. Private schools are expensive. (I choose that school because I know that film production takes a lot of time and requires a lot of attention, and having other classes not pertaining to film can distract me. All I want to focus on is film, and that is why I want to attend and all-film school.) Instead of comforting me, he pretty much scolded me for having too much expectations. I should lower my expectations, he says.

I told myself that I refuse to lower my expectations because by lowering it, I might as well be stripping my dreams off of myself. And now, I'm pretty much a bum, just staying at home, sleeping in, eating the kitchen, ruining my eyes by staring at the computer the whole day, and all because I'm waiting to save money to go to that private film school I want to go to. And to make things worse, I can't find a job...and I'm still a trainee at the financial company! How am I supposed to save up, right?

So what now? Did my dad prove me wrong? Should I lower my expectations? If I do, that will eliminate my dream of going to a private film school. But now, the other part of the quote is starting to make sense. If I don't have a lot of expectations, my reality would be a little better. At least, way better than being a bum. If I didn't want to go to a private school, I would be attending college right now just like my friends and high school classmates are. At least, I would be doing something. Maybe it is my passion/obsession for filmmaking that is causing me to have a high expectation. I want to be a successful filmmaker, and I know that's not going to happen soon.

I probably lost you. Don't worry; I got lost in my own words too. I guess I fall in the middle of the quote, which would be 'or'. I don't know what to do. I am a confused high honors graduate who is now a bum at home.

That is all.
XD