Happiness is the opposite of sadness.
Sadness is the absence of happiness.
That was what I thought until recently. I thought just because I wasn't sad, I was happy. I had gotten so caught up in trying to balance everything in my life all while still trying to maintain being “happy”. In the end I actually wasn’t content with my life or the way I was choosing to live my life.
I realize now that this partially stemmed from society’s expectations of achieving happiness and being content with everyday. This is majorly influenced by social media and the use of influencers who share their happy life from one media platform to the next, which subconsciously embeds itself into our brain and affects our own lifestyle. And although social media has set some unrealistic standards for society, it has also undeniably been used for a number of great things for us today like awareness of certain issues, one of the issues being mental health. As mental health becomes more talked about in society, the idea of happiness is starting to be questioned.
What is happiness and what can we do to achieve it?
The dictionary definition just claims that happiness means to be pleased or content. Being content with life is good but it is actually proven that if we try to achieve happiness everyday and try to be joyful all the time, that can actually cause us harm. People who strive after happiness like it is an amazing quest will ultimately either be let down by the overwhelming task of always trying to be positive or underwhelmed at the idea that its not as magical as it had seemed. Joy is a good emotion and optimism is a great attitude for facing issues, however when we choose to ignore our real emotions and try to replace them with “happiness” then we are negatively affecting our lives because we think it's a box we can check off or use as a shield for our true feelings instead. When we are pushed to feel joy constantly then we risk the true value of what joy is.
Even the idea of just being happy 24/7, are we really experiencing happiness? Learning to accept the fact that sadness and anger and other emotions will enter your life can help one grow emotionally and help us understand the complex feelings within ourselves. After experiencing other emotions and then finally experiencing a bit of joy from something small, then we are able to appreciate those moments and emotions we go through. The path to understand what the feeling of joy is to us is a rollercoaster. It has many high and exciting moments but also low and scary moments and as the roller coaster climbs up the hill to joy, the excitement is immeasurable once you reach that peak, even if the feeling only lasts for a moment.
We see now the role of mental health in society and the rising awareness of problems presenting themselves in our lives but it is up to us on how we ultimately choose as happiness and why we try so hard for a fleeting emotion.
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● https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sad
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● https://everydaypower.com/do-not-need-to-be-happy-all-the-time/
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● https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/pushing-happiness
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25 comments:
Inspiring and Academically heartening! As students, we face struggles switching between happiness and sadness. We have yet to distinguish the difference sometime because we never know how we are truly feeling. I loved how you used the denotative meaning of happiness yet emphasized the importance of what happiness REALLY means
I really like your perspective. I agree, you can always experience loss, sadness, emptiness and negative feelings and still be happy. Because once you go through those, you then start to grow and learn that it's okay to not be happy all the time. I like the introduction and how you changed your perspective throughout the text.
This really opened my eyes on what happiness really is. I am in the same position that you were once in where I thought because I'm not sad I am happy but now I know thats not the case. You helped me realize that I need true happiness in my life but the only question I’m left with is how do I find such happiness.
I really liked your story I thought you did a really good job at explaining how social media affects our happiness and we overlook it because we don't even notice it. I definitely think that I need to reevaluate my thought of happiness and really see if I am happy for myself or because of society. - Ariana Hernandez
Social media is often a large contributor to many cases of unhappiness among people unfortunately today since it leads people to often compare themselves or feel inadequate while also causing them to believe to forcibly always be 'happy'. Which you address and I agree with your piece about how striving to be happy is harmful; In reality the harder someone tries to find happiness they will only become more lonely and feel unhappy. Overall your piece was enjoyable and I agree with what you have to say.
It was nice to read about how you have noticed the way social media affects mental health. Many people believe they are happy because they aren't necessarily sad but there are other factors that contribute to the feeling of sadness. Now I feel I have to question my happiness and mental state, very strong piece. - Jaeyeon Romero
I love your perspective. I believe that constantly focusing on ones level of happiness is a constant reminder of how happy other people are. This comparison can be toxic. I believe in living in the moment. Life is like a story, an entirely happy story is a boring story.
-Dahrien Trotter
I loved this piece. I can definitely agree that trying to be happy all the time could make a situation worse rather than dealing with the emotion and learning how to get grow from it so that when joy comes from little things its actually enjoyable.
I love that you mentioned people who go after happiness get let down because it’s not all they expected. It reminded me of a quote that talks about happiness isn’t something you can achieve but you can still feel happy during the process of achieving something. Your perspective definitely opened up my eyes to being more aware of other emotions other than happy or sad. -Katera Perry
I love that you mentioned people who go after happiness get let down because it’s not all they expected. It reminded me of a quote that talks about happiness isn’t something you can achieve but you can still feel happy during the process of achieving something. Your perspective definitely opened up my eyes to being more aware of other emotions other than happy or sad. -Katera Perry
I loved your piece! I used to have a different perspective than yours when it came to what happiness really is because I didn't see it from a perspective of having mental health issues. I also liked how you mentioned social media as one of the main sources of not being happy because people are constantly trying to reach all of those expectations from others.
I totally agree with you especially when you said that we have to accept the fact that we will experience other emotions (besides being happy) at some points in life. I also like how you structured your piece; defining it to relating it to your own life experiences. I also agree when you stated that it is important for us to know that everything great that is being portray in social media does not exactly mean happiness, and that there is also a downfall to that. Overall, I thought you did very well.
The definition of happiness develops throughout the work parallel to your own past definition of the emotion creating a sophisticated and interesting read. Relaying what you have learned to the readers in an educational yet inspiring work kept me reading, great job.
Your opinion of happiness is something I have never considered before. When you mention how just because you were not sad does not means you were happy, it made me think of how I and everyone I know should perceive contentedness and whether or not one should strive for it. This piece of writing really expanded my realm of personal reality checks, for I am able to relate to some of the things that you mention such as the views of social media and the state of not being happy, but rather not sad. Overall, this is a great piece of writing that exposes the truths a common human emotion. -Nathaniel Alvarado
I loved the hook because it introduced what you were about to talk about in a creative way. I also liked your perspective on happiness and how social media influences expectations of happiness. This really does make people think about if they are truly happy or just because they are not sad they consider themselves happy. Great piece. -Aleeyah Staten
November 5, 2019 at 2:31 PM
This is very realistic in today's day and age with social media and with the unrealistic standards that society has put on us. Society's standards really dictate how we view our own personal happiness.
November 5, 2019 at 6:16 PM
I really enjoyed reading your piece. The part I liked in particular was when you talked about how society can also affect our happiness and emotions, but we as a people can actually take back our emotions and mold them in a way that society can’t have any influence on it. Nice job!
-Joshua-Zion Hunter
Very good use of hopeful and curious diction. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your point of view on a subject I hold so dear to my heart.
Your take on happiness and its role in our day to day lives is very well thought and rational. Your evidence and the way you articulate your ideas and opinions is very impressive; I agree that happiness in extreme forms can be damaging to our mental health and that we need room for other emotions, even if they arn't as pleasing, to help us grow and mature mentally and to help strength or pyche; well done.
-Rebecca Clinton
I have never really thought about how social media can affect my happiness, but you're totally right. When you spend a lot of time on social media you are consistently looking at the best parts of peoples lives. you start to become envious of them and that eats away at you and causes that empty feeling you described in this essay. great job I really liked this essay! -Kate Sainz
Your piece really interested me especially with the way you started it with the first two lines really hooked me into continuing to read the rest and I'm glad that I did. Everything in this piece is completely true because many people look for happiness by living up to societies standards when in reality we should find happiness in what we were given. -Jessica Quesada
There isn’t enough talk about how toxic social media is on a causal level. It guides our live more than we should let it. I’ll let my little sister read this one. - Hannah Colunga
This was very insightful. Writing is very powerful when you can make the reader second guess their life and views. You did an excellent job diving into the deepest parts of our hearts and minds. I also love the evidence at the end to back your opinions up. Great job showing us your perspective! -Kayla M.
I really enjoyed your piece and your personal insight on what exactly happiness is. At the very begging when you say "Happiness is the opposite of sadness. Sadness is the absence of happiness." it really grabbed my attention and it kind of brings your audience into question. Though they are statements it grabs reader's attention and makes them ponder and really think about the differences with happiness and sadness. I also liked how you defined happiness by the dictionary and then brought it into perspective of social media, mental health, etc.
I loved your view on happiness. It really differs from many people. I see how you say in a way how when a person is not truly sad it does not mean that they are truly happy either. It is like happiness can be achieved some other way.
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