Are you as Happy as you Think you are?

When we think of the word “happy” we often get an image inside of our head of someone smiling. And when you see someone smiling often our first thought is “wow they look happy”. There is a difference between looking and being happy. So which one are you?

Take this quiz to find out, be honest, because you just might find something about yourself you hadn’t even realized.

Question 1:

Are you always willing to help your loved ones? In other words, do you find yourself to be very sympathetic towards others?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes

Question 2:

Do you view yourself as an emotional person with a lot of mood swings?

1. No
2. Yes
3. Kinda?

Question 3:

Do you often pity yourself?

1. Never
2. All the time
3. Occasionally

Question 4:

Do you feel like you have to be right about everything?

1. Nah, I don’t care if i’m wrong
2. Yes I absolutely hate being wrong
3. I mean who doesn’t like to be right every once in a while?

Question 5:

Are you good at keeping secrets?

1. Yeah I’m a trustworthy person
2. Not at all
3. Depends on situation

Question 6:

Are you selfless?

1. 12/10 yes
2. No….
3. A little bit

Question 7:

Do you find yourself only wanting to be outside in the sun?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Some of the time

Question 8:

Are you always the first to do everything? Even the first one to get to a social gathering?

1. Yes, I can’t ever be the one that is late
2. Nah, I really don’t care
3. Depends on situation

Question 9:

Are you brave?

1. Yes, I’m never afraid of anything
2. Not at all, sometimes life scares me
3. For some things

Question 10:

Are you a natural leader? Do you enjoy taking charge and having responsibility?

1. YES
2. Not at all
3. If know one else is willing to be the leader, I often am

Question 11:

Are you always trying to go out and have a good time?

1. Yes always
2. Not really, I like being alone
3. Sometimes

Question 12:

Do you love to travel? Never want to be in the same place for too long?

1. MEEEEE
2. I hate change tbh
3. I like to travel but not all the time

Question 13:

Will you do anything to achieve your goals?

1. Yes I am highly motivated by my goals
2. No, I fall through on my goals a lot
3. I complete some of my goals, but definitely not all of them

Question 14:

Do you have a strong work ethic? Are you a hard worker?

1. Yes
2. No, i’m honestly kinda lazy
3. Sometimes

Question 15:

Do you love to cook?

1. It’s okay, I need to eat somehow
2. No, too much work
3. Absolutely

Question 16:

Do you tend to worry a lot?

1. No, I’m pretty laid back
2. Yes, I just want everything to work out how I want
3. I worry when I need to

Question 17:

Do you eat healthy?

1. Always
2. No, junk food tastes so good
3. I try to

Question 18:

Do you have strong self-control?

1. I definitely do
2. Not really, i’m easily persuaded
3. Sometimes

Question 19:

Do people find you hard to read?

1. I’ve been told i’m hard to read
2. Not at all
3. I don’t know, maybe

Question 20:

Are you a creative person:

1. Very
2. Not at all
3. A little

Question 21:

Do you view yourself as open minded?

1. I for sure do
2. No
3. About certain things

Question 22:

Do you hate conflict?

1. I REALLY do hate it
2. Arguing is fun
3. I wouldn’t say i’m a fan, but my life does have some conflicts

Question 23:

Do you like everything to be fair and equal?

1. Yes, equality is key
2. Life isn’t fair
3. Sometimes

Question 24:

Are you an energetic person?

1. Yes always
2. Not really
3. Sometimes, depends on my mood

Question 25:

Are you independent?

1. Very
2. No, I like help from others
3. I can be

Result:

(Add up how many 1s, 2s, and 3s you have)

If you have mainly 1s:

You are as happy as can be!!!!!

You are someone that is confident in life and this means overall you feel secure in life. And not the physical security of living in a safe environment, you psychologically feel secure. This is so important to living a happy life so congrats! You are a part of the 53% of the world that said they are happy. You are optimistic and not afraid to be on your own. Happiness thrives through all of these things. When you are optimistic you don’t get let down which means you don’t get let down but those around you very often. Instead, you are always moving forward with a head high in the air. You also thrive through being independent. This just helps you get done what needs to get done. Not feeling the need to rely on people is a freeing feeling. This doesn’t mean you don’t have your occasionally sad points in life, because you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. But even through some tough spots you end up with positive view on life.

“You can be secure even though you don’t feel secure. And you can feel secure even though you’re not. The feeling and reality of security are certainly related to each other, but they’re just as certainly not the same as each other.” -Bruce Schneier

If you had mainly 3's:

You are happy but not quite as can be…

Everyone has their ups and downs but you might find yourself with a little more downs. This doesn’t mean you aren’t happy, it just might mean that you feel neither happy are unhappy. This is the case for 31% of the world. This doesn’t define you as a person who doesn’t ever “look” happy it just means at times you aren’t confident. As it turns out, smiling and happiness are related. On a study done by Marissa Byers, smiling is correlated with the amygdala in our brains, as the amygdala controls emotions. This means “the human brain is programmed to seek what is safe and familiar- not situations where we are the center of attention”. So when you lack confidence, you often find yourself not as happy in certain situations.

If you have mainly 2's:

You aren’t happy and could use some “can be”

You are now in the 13 percentile of the world. You tend to bring yourself down as you let your negative thoughts over-power your subconscious. It is easy for you to sit alone, have a bad diet, and not make any goals for yourself, because your confidence level isn’t a priority to you and you tend to be a close-minded person. Worry often floods your thoughts which ends up building walls around you. These walls separate you from going out of your comfort zone and finding new adventures in life. All these things lead can lead to depression if you stay in this habitual path.

“Your subconscious must be supporting your conscious desires. If you have old habitual ways of thinking that are whispering negative thoughts into the quiet recesses of your mind, you must address them. Befriend them, find out how and why they served you in the past, and notify them that they are no longer needed. Think empowering thoughts on all levels of your being.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nevertheless, happiness can never really be given a direct definition, and this is because happiness comes from our psychological standpoint. This standpoint being whether or not we feel secure and confident in life. When looking for the factors of security, you have to look at the psychological factors you are facing instead of just the broad spectrum.

Citations:

Bruce Schneier. “The Trade off of Security”. The Psychology of Security. BT Counterpane, 2006.

Byers, Marissa. Followthelala. “6 Scientific Facts That Prove Smiling Is Good For You.” The Lala, 29 June 2015, thelala.com/scientific-reasons-smile/.

Glassner, B. “The Culture of Fear”. Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things. Basic Books, 1999

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Your Key to Happiness Is Unique to You.” Your Key To Happiness Is Unique To You, 2018, www.inspired-personal-development.com/key-to-happiness.html.

Jones, Erin. “Global Poll Shows 53% of the World Is ‘Happy’ — But What About the U.S.?”Marketwire, Market Wired, 2018, www.marketwired.com/press-release/global-poll-shows-53-of-the-world-is-happy-but-what-about-the-us-1636612.htm.