Are you happy?

[Kimmy]

Another one of these heartfelt articles, but I need your help.

Are you truly happy?

No, don't just nod and smile. Have you ever truly looked at your life and been able to hoenstly say 'I am happy'? Has everything ever been to the point where you want it?

I ask again, are you happy?
How is your life? Do you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day ahead, and do you go to bed satisfied with what you've achieved?
Life has it's ups and downs, weaves in and out of different pathways and orients back and forth between what's good for you and what's not so good. Can you tell me that your life's in the good? I know I find it hard to convince myself that everything's fine. I know loads of people do. I know I have days where I don't want to get up, and days where I know I have things to do. It gets difficult to deal with everythin at once. College, work, school. Family piles burdens on top of you, friends make it hard to wriggle out of their bonds for a few seconds to get a breathe of air. Fresh air. It makes me wonder what happiness truly is. Is it when you can go a day without digging yourself into a hole? Is it where you can smile and mean it? Do smiles mean anything? Help me come up with the true meaning of happiness. Help me establish what it's like to be truly happy. I know it's impossible to be happy all of the time, but what's it like to spend the majority of days knowin it's worth it? Tell me what you think. What is happiness, and what's integral towards maintaining that so-called happiness?

[MKR&*42]

Quote for the sake of it; Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.

I wouldn't say I'm overly happy with my life but I am starting to "get there" I guess. I have aspirations i can actually fixate on and work towards and i feel way more confident irl than i ever have at any point in my life. I'm not exactly jumping for joy at my life, but at the same time I know it can get better and that i will feel 'happier' as time goes on + as goals are met

idk what happiness actually is beyond an emotion, but it's certainly relateable to the sensation of sitting in a small wood and staring out onto a lake in the spring haha

[scottish]

Another one of these heartfelt articles, but I need your help.

Are you truly happy?

No, don't just nod and smile. Have you ever truly looked at your life and been able to hoenstly say 'I am happy'? Has everything ever been to the point where you want it?

I ask again, are you happy?
How is your life? Do you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day ahead, and do you go to bed satisfied with what you've achieved?
Life has it's ups and downs, weaves in and out of different pathways and orients back and forth between what's good for you and what's not so good. Can you tell me that your life's in the good? I know I find it hard to convince myself that everything's fine. I know loads of people do. I know I have days where I don't want to get up, and days where I know I have things to do. It gets difficult to deal with everythin at once. College, work, school. Family piles burdens on top of you, friends make it hard to wriggle out of their bonds for a few seconds to get a breathe of air. Fresh air. It makes me wonder what happiness truly is. Is it when you can go a day without digging yourself into a hole? Is it where you can smile and mean it? Do smiles mean anything? Help me come up with the true meaning of happiness. Help me establish what it's like to be truly happy. I know it's impossible to be happy all of the time, but what's it like to spend the majority of days knowin it's worth it? Tell me what you think. What is happiness, and what's integral towards maintaining that so-called happiness?

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Again, yes
4) Good
5) Sometimes
6) Yes

[buttons]

i feel like your post is suggesting that if we say we're happy then we haven't looked deep enough into our lives and emotions? happiness isn't a myth.. i'm happy and asking me questions about it won't change that. i'm not in denial or not 'deep enough'. i'm happy because i let myself be. i'm happy because i've never known what it feels like. i'm happy because i make that choice everyday. when my mind tells me negative things, i continue my life anyway because i deserve to. i'm a human being who deserves to be treated like one and have good things happen to me.

i think a lot depends on your outlook. i was convinced i was going to be a negative person for the rest of my life and that i'd never be happy. you can't sit around and wait for something to make you happy, you have to give happiness a chance. instead of putting myself in a corner and not letting myself join in with anyone/have fun, i figured i had nothing to lose and tried accepting myself. i suppose that was the biggest thing for me, letting myself do things i want to do but was always scared of doing.

when you're able to do that after years of being unable to, you are grateful for it. 'normal' people might just see having a conversation with someone as an everyday thing but after being miserable and depressed, avoiding people because you think you're inferior to them, it makes you grateful that you're able to do things like that. i'm honestly happy everyday that i get to talk to people because i spent years of my life unable to.

i suppose also after having health scares and seeing how anyone's life can be taken at any minute, i'm grateful again for what i do have. that will always be the focus for me because if you mope around all day, one day you might actually be given a reason for it and you've spent your whole life never being happy and blaming all the external factors when really you were the one causing your own unhappiness.

to answer your question, no i don't have everything in my life where i'd like it. i don't wake up in the morning looking forward to the day nor do i go to bed satisfied with what i've achieved. that absolutely does not mean i can't be happy. happiness isn't being able to go through your day plain-sailing, it's digging those holes and picking yourself up anyway because you deserve to.

unless you're a bad person then bye

[Inseriousity.]

Happiness is a goal. It's something that people are expected to idealise, to reach for. It's a survival thing: hope gets you through the rough days. If I just keep working hard, I'll be happy and all my troubles will be behind me. Life doesn't work like that because the world does not revolve around you so things are not always going to work out perfectly. However, I do believe there's such a thing as contentment. Where you still have problems and obstacles in your life (mine would be interview nerves stopping me from getting a job, for instance) but you're at peace with yourself, where problems aren't the end of the world, just a pesky nuisance you can improve over time. I think that's the key difference. Everyone wants happiness now. If you just go through life treasuring the good moments in your life, however small, rather than focusing on how many problems are in the way of your perfect happiness, life will be a lot more manageable.

[Shar]

I'm happy with my life in general. There are moments where I'm feeling other emotions but that doesn't take away the fact that I am happy at all. Sometimes you just have to fight your demons and work hard to stay happy.

[Sho]

i'm a lot happier now than i was a couple of months ago. i've started dealing with things differently and not let all the small things worry me.

[Matt]

Yeah I'm pretty happy now that I've finished school and have a 3 month holiday. It's such a relief to get Year 12 done and out the way. + it's Christmas!

[-:Undertaker:-]

School was the happiest time of my life, whenever I am down and I think of school and my friends from school (and we all go out all the time) it makes me smile like an idiot. Family is another aspect too of course, but i'm a pint half-empty guy so I am always worrying about the future.

The quote in my signature I guess is what you ought to aim for.

[Empired]

I hoped I was but no, I'm not there yet. It takes time I think.

It's odd. I always thought a different outlook on life would mean you could go from being sad one day to completely happy the next. I realise now that it doesn't work like that and being happy is actually a lot of hard work. Some days I find myself very happy but other days I just wanna curl up and cry yknow. My mum always says it's like taking two steps forward and one step back and I guess sometimes the one step back surprises me.

Probably doesn't make sense but yea