Poll: Are you happy?

[Fox12]

I know this is somewhat subjective, but it got me really thinking. I graduated recently, and a lot of people I know are trying to find out where they're heading in life. A lot of people settled for jobs they don't care for, or went back to what they were doing before college. People who work at my current job seem to be stuck in a temporary position, work multiple part time positions, or are simply doing what they know best. My own mother is going back to school to learn how to teach, because she hates her job. My dad works all the time. And the thing that came to mind is that everyone just seems tired. Not physically, but mentally and spiritually exhausted.

This was highlighted when I was watching a Two Best Friends lets play of Dark Souls 2, where Pat states that there was a moment where he realized that no one is happy. It really made me think, and I had to stop the video and ponder that a moment. Is that really true?

Obviously the answer isn't the same for everyone. If you're wealthy, healthy, and doing a something you love then you're probably happier then someone who can't make ends meat. But, on average, how happy is a person? I've dealt with depression before, and I'm in a transitional period where I'm really getting ready to move into adult hood, so I feel like I'm not the best judge. What do you think? Would you consider yourself "happy?" And what does happiness mean to you?

 

[tippy2k2]

Ho boy...

I am....seriously unsure.

The job I'm currently at isn't terrible but I'm getting bored with it (I am currently failing at finding a new job). I'm buried under student loans for a degree that is about as useful as the piece of paper it is written on, which forces me to stay in this shit-hole of a studio apartment and my life will stay this way for the foreseeable future. I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to anything dealing with the opposite sex and my knee has been hurt for waaaay longer than it should be considering what I did to it. My fatass is also struggling greatly working on losing weight.

That said, I am working on getting a new job and it's only a matter of time. A new job will give me new experiences and (hopefully) more money to kill those student loans faster. My knee IS healing, it's just taking longer than I want it to and I am currently working out (which will increase that much more once my knee is fully healed) and being a lot more vigilante over what I'm eating. I suppose I'm still hopeless with the opposite sex but I'm really hoping that a sexy new body and some actual spending money will help with my confidence.

So....uh....we'll see?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I feel quite happy. I have no list of accomplishments to present or explain. I just feel that way at the end of the day.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Some parts of my life are incredibly good right now, including the romantic department (seriously didn't see that coming when I started school last year) but others are under strain. I don't have much of a social life going on right now due to work, don't have a lot of money, lost some games and my 3DS recently which is bumming me out.

I do have a roof over my head and food in the fridge so I have time to improve my circumstances and maybe replace what I lost before September. So overall, yeah I'm content.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Well how do you define whether someone is "happy?"

What percentage of the time does one have to be happy to be considered "happy?"

What if you're miserable 90% of the time but the 10% of the time that you're happy you get to be ecstatic? Is that better or worse than someone who is just mildly happy for a greater percentage of time?

See it's hard to measure happiness on a scale.

Personally I think that few people are truly happy, and most people aren't happy because they have to compromise. 99.99% of people don't get to work the job of their dreams. You think janitors want to be janitors, or waiters want to be waiters? Of course not, but there are a hell of a lot more of those jobs than there are of any other. The number of people whose lives have turned out exactly as they wanted them to is incredibly small. People get side tracked from their dreams, or people just grow up and realize that their dream was unreachable, but there's always the little voice in the back of everyone's mind that tells them that maybe they would have made it if they'd tried just a little bit harder.

Hell, for a lot of people even the things that they enjoy don't always bring them happiness. Parents tell me that raising their kids is the happiest and most fulfilling thing they've ever done. Say you have kids, and you love your kids and they make you happy, well half the time your kids are still going to be annoying brats who are little shits to you for a lrage portion of their life, no matter how much you love them and they love you.

Maybe you love playing video games as a hobby (a safe bet considering you're on a game forum), but video games tend to piss us off just as much as they bring us joy and entertainment. I think the rage caused by multiplayer gaming has actually shortened my lifespan.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but my point is that you're never going to be happy all the time, and even the things that make you happy will still be the cause of pain and suffering at one point or another. Does the fact that there is unhappiness in your life necessarily make you unhappy though, or is that just reality?

I think happiness is over-rated. Contentment is where it's at.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

For the most part, yes.

The semester is over and work is slowing down for the summer for me. I just have maintenance stuff to do and start projects that will last me the whole summer, and then it ramps back up again. I go on vacation in a few weeks, and I so need it.

On the romantic side of things, it's been surprisingly well. I know, I'm just as shocked as you.

Financially, well, it's still not good. The place where I work now is slowly killing me and I can't wait to graduate and move on in my field since I'm kinda stuck where I am. But, it's slowly improving.

I'm taking the summer for some personal improvement and mental health since the past several months have sucked a big one for me. Being going to the gym more and eating like a normal human being, and it's been going well for me. Feel tons better and I don't feel like garbage.

So, I guess it's a 50-50 split on that. Can't really complain too much.

 

[TWRule]

When most people use the term 'happy', they mean a psychological feeling only, or some confused combination of mere 'contentment' and a more complete/holistic fulfillment.

'Happy feelings' come and go in any psychologically healthy human being, so those should be considered irrelevant to the question, and in my opinion, 'contentment' tends to be a cover for mere resigned indolence - if I catch myself describing my situation as 'content', I remind myself not to become too lazy. There is still plenty wanting in my life, in my world, and in me.

'Happiness' should mean (instead of contentment or positive feelings) 'fulfillment'. The question is, what is to be 'fulfilled'? One's most deep-seated passions, needs, desires ('contentment' tends to imply settling for less than this). For example, do you have a sense of meaning, purpose, direction, etc., in your life? Most people confuse 'meaning' here with 'contentment' again - repressing the absurdity and senselessness of their daily distractions - because they have already given up on the hope of a more complete fulfillment; they don't even try to understand what it might mean to live with purpose because they do not want to take greater responsibility for their own lives.

Nietzsche once had a character of his address a crowd, saying the following:

"What is the greatest experience you can have? It is the hour of the great contempt. The hour when your happiness, too, arouses your disgust ...
The hour when you say, 'What matters my happiness? It is poverty and filth and wretched contentment. But my happiness ought to justify existence itself.'" (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

What he meant was not that we should let contentment be the goal of life, but to let our most profound passions and convictions define who we are and how we see the world so that we can build meaning for our lives and ascribe a new, more noble, meaning for "happiness". In other words, we need a meaning of 'happiness' or 'fulfillment' that applies to a person's entire existence and is worthy of beings of such lofty potential as we possess.

[P.S. My deepest wants/needs are yet to be fulfilled, so I am not 'happy', but because I do not have a perfect grasp on what exactly all of those wants are or how to satisfy them, and because I was not answering the question of 'contentment', I answered the poll with "It's not that simple..."]

 

[SweetShark]

"Noboby have a Happy Life. There are only Happy Moments"
Me

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Not really, no. I'm dealing with the death of a very close family member. I have their funeral to go to in a few days, plus viewing them lying in the chapel beforehand with my mother and neither of us are dealing with it well, and both of us will be feeling like total crap afterwards as well. I've lost all enthusiasm for the things I once loved to do - I can't muster the drive to write though I feel like my outlines and ideas could be fun to write up. Playing my guitar and bass don't give me any joy even though I have a month of pretty big gigs coming up. My sleep pattern's been ruined and thanks to it I feel exhausted every day. Playing games doesn't give me any satisfaction now.

I'm sure I'll bounce back from it eventually but it doesn't feel much like it right now. So no, I'm not happy. Apologies for venting though.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Happy?

Only when gaming or hanging with my best friend since those are the only moments that keep my mind of things.
In most other moments, I'm either indifferent about everything, easily annoyed or prone to breaking down.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Not really, no. I'm dealing with the death of a very close family member. I have their funeral to go to in a few days, plus viewing them lying in the chapel beforehand with my mother and neither of us are dealing with it well, and both of us will be feeling like total crap afterwards as well. I've lost all enthusiasm for the things I once loved to do - I can't muster the drive to write though I feel like my outlines and ideas could be fun to write up. Playing my guitar and bass don't give me any joy even though I have a month of pretty big gigs coming up. My sleep pattern's been ruined and thanks to it I feel exhausted every day. Playing games doesn't give me any satisfaction now.

I'm sure I'll bounce back from it eventually but it doesn't feel much like it right now. So no, I'm not happy. Apologies for venting though.

Well the good news is that you will bounce back, once the idea of that person not being around finally sinks in fully. I know quite well what you're going through, went through when I lost my mom.

OT: As for me well. I'd say over all I'm happy with myself. I'm fairly content with my situation, though I'm looking to get a new apartment this summer if possible. Romantically, well I'm getting more attention than I really want, but haven't found someone who I connect with enough.

Overall yeah I'd say happy, at least happy enough.

 

[Zhukov]

Hard to say.

I could give at least five completely different but totally honest answers to that question in the space of a couple of hours.

 

[Barbas]

Yes, I think so. I'm not worry-free, but I find time to be happy about the simple everyday things - a slice of buttered bread, a cup of tea, a friendly dog or a nice walk in the woods past the cows and sheep; the stories, poetry and music of people who died before I was born, old black-and-white films, reading about something that interests me or speaking to someone an ocean away. All of these ingredients make life. From day to day, I'm mostly happy and sometimes not. All the things that bother me will eventually fade away and come out in the wash. I can be content, so I am.

Spoiler

 

[Scarim Coral]

No for the most part.

By all means I am greatful that I got a job now but now it feel like I am stuck there. Trying to advance however is going to be difficult which put my overal desire goal even more out of reach (living on my own and have a stable job to covered the bills).

I haven't even mention my little to none loved life which I am quite pessimism about but that is more of self laziness.

By all means I do have my happy/ cheer up moment and I can get day to day just fine without becoming depress.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Spoiler: Shield your eyes from the truth, blissful child!

Currently experiencing an extended period of difficulty with life, self, coping etc. Havent felt happiness for far too long but certainly crave it. Things are not healing as should be and medication is pretty much the only thing that stops the thoughts of self destructive plans. Quite funny really. Professional help is a slow cog, hopefully not always. For now, quite an unpleasant downward spiral that seems fairly impossible to escape from.

However, this is the escapist and no one should have to hear depressing words. So in all there is to muster without fluster...happy joyous toastie sandwich wishes to you all! Eh sorry, head feels a little numb for words today. Late night and all.

 

[4173]

Maybe?

I'm depressed and ill, but at the same time my life has been on a general upward slope for the past few years and I'm better off than where I was before.

 

[Xeros]

Not really. I feel I've lost all sense of purpose and place in the world. Not sure what keeps me going other than habit and routine.

 

[Hoplon]

Call no man happy untill he is dead - Herodotus