So speaking of being happy, as the new year approaches I once again find myself thinking about the things that make me happy. I'm sure part of it is the fact that Andrea asked me just a few nights ago, "Are you really happy?" and I didn't immediately shout "Hell ya!" at the top of my lungs.
Not that I think CNN is an authority on happiness, but I stumbled across this article. The article itself does nothing to establish the actual definition of happiness, which in my opinion is required to answer the follow up question of "Am I happy?". But it did have some interesting facts.
First, it tries to establish that money can't buy happiness, past a certain level. How came up with the value of that level isn't described:
By and large, money buys happiness only for those who lack the basic needs. Once you pass an income of $50,000, more money doesn't buy much more happiness, Gilbert said.So is that $50k per person, or like $50k for a family? A married couple? Regardless, I have to disagree. I don't think just being able to provide the basic needs is enough to make you happy. Unless my definition of happiness doesn't account for material things, which I don't think is possible.
The article then throws out a bunch of other arbitrary comparisons of who's happier. Married people are happier than singles, Republicans are happier than Democrats, and my person favorite, religious people are happier than those who aren't. Ohhhh kay... guess I'm doomed to never be happy!
The one thing that did stick out to me, was something that my brother has also mentioned that he has read or heard about in the past. That is, you get happier the older you get. The happiest group of men are 65 and older. The least happy? 18 to 29.
Let's think about that... 18 to 29 are men just starting there careers or just starting to look at the fact that they will be working for the next 30 years of there life. That can be VERY depressing. 65 year old men? Probably retired, kids are all grown up, not a care in the world. Gee, I wonder why they qualify as "happier".
I know that I am definitely happier than before. Happier than when I was 300 pounds. Happier than when I lived in Boise away from family, and happier than when I wasn't a father. But am I happy? No... simply because I have too many concerns and worries about the future. But at the same time, I really don't feel like waiting 35 years to be happy. There has to be a way to find happiness in the years leading up to retirement. Now to just figure out how to do that...
1 comment:
Shawn, I love you to pieces, but sometimes you really need to ease up on yourself. In my opinion, the "happiness" that you're talking about is a myth. Happiness comes from the small things that happen in your everyday life, like coming home at the end of a crappy day to find your wife and daughter waiting excitedly for your arrival. Striving for all-encompassing, big picture "happiness" is just setting yourself up to be unhappy. Take pleasure in your every day life, or you're going to be miserable for a long time.
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