I Want To Be Happy In My Own Way

We all want to feel good, it is a difficult principle to dispute. If you ask others what they want to achieve in their lives, they will rarely answer that they want to be unhappy, sad, or feel like a failure. People want to feel what it is like to be happy and they strive to find a way to achieve it.

However, although everyone wants to be happy and satisfied with their life, many do not know how to achieve it. Defining happiness today is somewhat complicated, we live with the paradox that any object can bring you closer to it but at the same time nothing seems to be enough to achieve it.

More than before a subjective state of happiness, we run after a concept that we have transformed into an ideal. Today happiness has become a myth embodied in objects that enrich a few at the expense of the dissatisfaction of others.

The endless search for “being happy”

A simple internet search is enough to illustrate the current obsession with finding happiness. Millions of articles that talk about what to do or not do to be happy, what scientists say about happiness, the steps you have to take to reach it or what are the exact steps you have to climb to achieve it.

We are not only obsessed with achieving it, but we also want to achieve it in all areas of our life : at work, alone, as a couple, with the family, every day, in life. We look in every possible corner for the little clues that help us feel more fortunate.

This search is a never-ending task since, as it stands, it has become an empty ideal impossible to achieve. The current definition of happiness is closer to that of the romantic love of the movies or the epic quest for the holy grail than to its true meaning.

The business of happiness

Companies and the world of advertising have never been oblivious to the needs of their current and potential customers. Both are seekers of unsatisfied needs and, if there are none, they are in charge of creating them or looking for new ones to introduce a product or service that covers them.

Happiness hooks, sells, and everyone wants to be happy. Companies know this and seek, through planned strategies, customer loyalty and satisfaction. They play with emotions to achieve happiness through consumption.

It is no coincidence that the economic crisis has coincided with the fervent sale of happiness. In times of crisis, happiness is money.

The dictatorship of happiness

Not only has happiness become an object of consumption but it has also been imposed on us as an immovable norm. We have gone from wanting to I MUST be happy and along the way we have accepted messages of the type: “wanting is power”.

These types of statements are a double-sided coin. On the one hand, positivism and motivation emanate from “there is nothing impossible” or “I’m going to smile more and complain less”, while on the other, “I should be happy” or “I wanted to and couldn’t, then I did something. wrong”.

In the context of a society in crisis, where the sale of happiness is a sales strategy for many companies, it is always a good idea to remember  that sometimes, as much as we want, we cannot always; without forgetting that the responsibility for not reaching our goals is not always ours.

Happiness does not live alone

Happiness is a subjective feeling just like many others are, one more in the crowd. The inner life of each one is made up of emotions and feelings that range from joy and happiness to sadness or anger.

Each emotion has its utility and each and every one of them is necessary and fulfills a function. Emotions help us to give meaning to our experiences, so it is necessary to live and experience them all.

And you, what do you need to be happy?

Happiness does not have predefined templates nor does it understand generic products with magic formulas. Each person has their peculiarities, tastes and preferences. What makes one person happy could cause another person great misery.

Happiness is not about buying the t-shirt with the most positive message, following someone else’s plans or faking smiles to look good in a photo. It is much simpler than all that, it is about asking the right questions and looking for the answers away from standardized texts or empty products.