Apparently Canadian women are happier than US women. I don't know, I'm suspicious of happiness studies. There was recently one that suggested that money doesn't buy happiness as much as people think it would, but the methodology on that one sucked. They asked peope to estimate how happy they'd be a certain income levels and then asked them to rate how happy they are now. What they should have done is tracked the same group of people longintudinally, to see how their actually happiness evolved as their income evolved. Because personally, money does buy happiness for me - and I didn't even realize to what extent it does until I got a bit of money. I was happy in university - living away from my parents, my very own high speed internet connection, interesting job and interesting course work both of which I did well in. But now I'm even happier because I have air conditioning and a dishwasher and I don't have to worry about what's going to crawl out of my walls. I wouldn't want to go back to how I was living in university (it's been months since I've had a panic attack, and years since I've had a panic attack in my own home) but I wasn't unhappy then. I just didn't know how much better things could get.
I also reject the premise in the Star article that being happy is a choice, because I can't choose my emotions. (If you can and you feel like convincing me that I should be able to too, I'll need you to give me detailed step by step instructions.) I am happy under circumstances that not everyone would be happy with, but that's a matter of personal taste, not of zen virtue. I'm actively happy I have no children because I don't want them, but that's no consolation to someone who's struggling to conceive. I love living in an apartment and taking the subway, but that's irrelevant to someone who aspires to but can't afford to own a house and a car. Some people would say that not needing the things that you're "supposed to" want, and therefore not being unhappy as a result of not having those things, is choosing to be happy. But it isn't, it's just awareness of your own personal preferences.
1 comment:
The "money doesn't buy happiness" equation only works after a certain level of comfort has been reached. A/C, dishwashers and other conveniences can definitely be part of the "I'm happier with these than without these" equation.
I think the "money doesn't buy happiness" thing works only after a person has all the comforts and can afford all the things they want in life! If I had more money, I would travel more, and that would absolutely make me happier.
Separate from that, I can't choose my emotions, but I do choose not to dwell on certain feelings, not to wallow in them, to allows myself to feel them, but de-emphasize those feelings.
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