A Skeptic’s View of Happiness In Life And Work
Originally published at lmt-lss.com on March 27, 2016.
Everyone’s after happiness, which may not be a good thing.
Every time you scroll through your Facebook feed, there’s always a lifehack article lurking nearby, which attempts to tell you and everyone else how to be happy. Not just happy for today or this week, but forever and ever. These articles get read by millions of readers on certain websites, as most people believe that happiness is a human being’s ultimate calling. While that’s true or not is another matter altogether, what’s certain is that despite reading articles on how to be happy, most people aren’t finding happiness in the long-term. It’s likely because the idea of happiness as sold to us by popular culture and new media outlets is very different from what happiness actually may be — which is a matter of personal examination.
Why should anyone have to be happy all the time?
Happiness is a very unique and subjective idea. It means different things to different people. While the sound of birds could make certain people happy, some others probably wouldn’t even notice that there are birds in the vicinity. While some people may find inspiration from being positive and upbeat about things, some others may find inspiration from being upset with other people or the world at large. The classic notion of the artist comes to mind — the sad, tormented soul that creates mystery and magic through their deeply affected state of mind. If everyone were happy, I wonder how many of the heart-rending, soul-stirring pieces of literature, music, and movies that have moved people across millennia would exist at all.
The pressure to be happy can make you unhappy.
Everywhere online we hear about the need, as well as the different ways to be happy in life, so much so that we start to experience a certain kind of pressure to be happy. This pressure gradually builds over time, and when we suddenly start to think that we’ve failed to achieve happiness, it affects us negatively, essentially reducing our odds of being happy.
This same consequence of the relentless “be happy” movement online is seen at the workplace. There’s a study about happiness at work reported by Harvard Business Review, which suggests that, in an attempt by the employees to create a positive, “upbeat” work environment, often the opposite effect is observed. It’s because the creation of a happy workplace is a high expectation that’s hard to meet. So when we fail to meet it, unhappiness sinks in and the work environment gets disrupted.
Anger, sadness, envy are okay sometimes.
We’ve learned to frown upon such emotions as anger and sadness both in life and work. We try to avoid them the best we can. But anger, sadness, envy, and so on can give you the push you need to disrupt your status quo (only if you’re in control of your emotions, that is). You might be very comfortable at your job, doing things at a certain pace and producing an average output and being satisfied with it. At such a time, making a mistake or two on the job and being reprimanded for it by an angry boss can shake things up and push you to improve your work. In the same way, competing with a brilliant colleague can help you push yourself to be better than what you’ve been. And being upset about things can help you create deep and meaningful work, which often happens with artists (at least, it was common in the past).
The idea of happiness, therefore, should be allowed to be what it is — a floating idea that finds weight in an individual’s understanding of it. Let’s not forget that life is beautiful for its ebbs and tides, and for the startling range of emotions that one can experiences over a lifetime. I only wish to have the strength and courage to face life’s ebbs and tides without turning grumpy or regretful. Because finishing the race is what life is all about at the end of the day. Not in a particular race and not about finishing first, but just completing the race. If happiness comes to us along the way, it’s always welcome.
