I don’t have much of a poker face. People often tell me they know that I am feeling. . .mad, upset, sad. . .but most of the time, I am just thinking of something/working something out in my mind. I worry that people think I am feeling something I’m not, so I try to have a half-smile on my face in public, and smile often.
The truth is, I would never consider myself to be a ‘happy person’. . .content is what I can usually manage, and I think that that is good enough for me. Of course, I do feel happy at times, too – in fact, many times throughout a day I can feel happy. So why don’t I consider myself to be a happy person, and why would I be offended if someone asked me if I were happy? The thing is, happiness, at least so far as I see it, is relative. How can I feel happy all the time?
Honestly, this topic bothers me, because I feel as though society suggests that people should always be striving toward happiness in all aspects of their life. This seems wrong and damaging to me. It seems as though people are told to buy more stuff in order to feel happy I know this feeling. When I was younger, I used to buy CDs and DVDs in order to gain a bit of temporary happiness. I knew this at the time, but it still helped.
This is a blog-hop – continuing from the related post by On A Pink Park Bench. Next, check out Bless My Nest’s related post, which will be up tomorrow (October 21st)!
i do agree with you. we live in a society where you have to be happy, it's like a must and yet the stats shows the very opposite with a high percentage of people being unhappy or suffering from some sort of mental disease.
i believe society puts too much emphasis on material belonging, hence you never reach lasting happiness because there;s always more to buy and when you can't afford it or even if you do, something more desirable comes out leading to frustration if you can;t have it or lust to get it. even on tv, they portrays as if everything is magic or the american dream where you can be famous and rich. the realistic part is only mentioned "verbally" or they put so much glam on the success as if it happened without effort/unhappiness and sacrifice.
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Yes, absolutely – It's so crazy the amount of times I see in a tv show/movie where a kid isn't showing all outward signs of happiness according to societal norms, and they are treated as if they are somehow lacking – like seriously depressed, need drugs, need counselling. . .Always makes me think of movie/book Girl, Interrupted – anyone can end up in a mental institution for doing the most ordinary of things! I shudder to think where I would have ended up had more people noticed my behaviour as a teenager. I turned out just fine.
I really like this post….not many people address this subject…but its so true! Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts about it, very re-assuring to me and the way that I often feel. We shouldn't feel bad about not being bubbly and outwardly happy all the time. Content is a great word!
-Dawn
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I'm stopping by from the blog hop, and I appreciate your honest views on the topic! I recently wrote a post on how our society expects perfection (and with it the illusion of happiness). It's really sad that society is this way, it puts a lot of undue pressure on people. I also came across another post on the same topic (linked in my post) and that post was so impacting that it ended up getting over 2000 comments! You might enjoy it if you want to check it out.
My recent post The Expectation of “Perfection”
Thanks Stacy – I will check out the link on your blog, and your post on the subject. It is definitely a topic that not a lot of people want to talk about/address!
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