We face so much pressure to feel happy. So much so, in fact, that it gets depressing. Because when you can't, you somehow feel like you've made a mistake, or you're not like other people, or something is "wrong with you." When the nuances of your life make it difficult to feel "happy", but people and advertising and entertainment and seemingly everything else tells you that you should think positively or "be happy", it can all get overwhelming. Can't society, and those around us, accept that we're not always going to be happy? Maybe we have barriers to overcome? Maybe we have some other reason or obstacle getting in the way of happiness?
"Be happy"
"Happiness is a virtue"
"Let go of your woes and be happy"
"Think positive thoughts!"
"Don't get mad, get glad"
"Positive thoughts attract positive effects"
Maybe I just want to feel content, okay?
Oh and go to some war-torn, impoverished country with little to no electricity and genocidal warlords paid by first-world countries and unchecked capitalists running around hurting people. Where people have to hide from virtually everyone else for fear of getting killed. Tell them to "think positive thoughts" and see how far that gets you.
Or where people have no food, the environment around them is either polluted beyond repair or seemingly everything is out to at least cause pain, and peoples' children are so malnourished that they get what's called Kwashiorkor, which are bloated bellies from LACK of nutritional intake (read: eating) https://borgenproject.org/malnourished-people-bloated.../. Tell these children and their parents (and some of these children don't, or vice-versa) to "think positively" and see what that does for them.
Go and ask people in these adverse situations, among just a few, about 'happiness'. "Why not think happy thoughts? Like attracts like don't you know?!" Compare their everyday struggles to ours, which are enabled by the shit that props us up unfairly at the cost of people living in these nations. We've been allowed cushy lives in comparison because of exploitation, and we often don't realize we feed into it -- myself included. These people have a reason to not be happy; how could they be? But they fight to survive.
Depression runs rampant in first-world countries. Why do you think that is? Because they just "can't be happy but they should"? They're ungrateful?
Or maybe our lives have little meaning beyond being enslaved to certain systems that exploit the likes of people who have absolutely no power, and plunder our environment with wastefulness and recklessness, often in these very countries mind you. This adversity applies to many of our own living situations, our countries and states and municipalities. They're often right in our own backyards, too. Don't forget that.
Maybe we deal with health issues, sometimes terminal, often debilitating, or even occasionally those that fall between.
How can I feel happy knowing that I have my own obstacles to overcome in order to get my health back in order? Not only is my obstructive sleep apnea quite extreme (when I was last tested I would stop breathing every minute to two minutes), but because I have a smaller airway than most and that I experience microsleep often during my "sleep" (I'm not convinced I even manage to most of the time), using a CPAP/APAP barely helps. Keep in mind that those machines have a 90%+ success rate in treating sleep apnea. I won the shitty lottery, then. And my surgery, not covered by insurance at all, will require $9,000 or the operation won't even move forward beyond the initial consultation I've already done. If I don't get this treatment then I will be susceptible to stroke, heart attack, sinking further into depression, further weight gain, and other problems. I've already gone through a seizure this past week so it's only a matter of time before other aberrations occur, and I am awash in depression so often that I often feel like I'm in a mind prison.
How can this help with the depression that people go through knowing that at least 1-2 billion people around the world are virtually ghosts to the rest of the us? Ask them to be "happy", try it.
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I try sometimes, I do, but I really don't want to see, hear, and feel so much pressure from others about feeling this way. Let me come to this state of mind on my own terms, if ever at all.
This "euphoria" that we're pressured to feel is a form of conditioning that is meant to placate us so that we don't question the system we are part of. It's to keep us docile and comfortable. I don't feel the need to "feel happy" because Wal-Mart features a happy face in their advertising, or because virtually every commercial with people in it have them smiling from ear to ear. Fake crap telling me to feel fake feelings.
Be happy because you've earned it, because you actually managed to overcome your 'demons', because you did something good or wholesome or pleasing (not at the expense of others, too).
Not because someone posts memes on social media, telling you to "think positive thoughts" or "happiness is a virtue" or other sappy, emotionally dishonest crap. Not because of rampant commercialism. Not because of the things that we own, which only end up owning us all. And certainly not because some celebrity or two distracts us with their frivolous and enabled lifestyles that are sometimes built on the exploitation of others. If any of these things work for you and make you "happy" then that's your own thing, but it ain't mine. I have stuff to deal with first before I can effectively "feel happy."
If anything, it's okay to feel "okay", if only with how YOUR life is going. Come to a state of neutrality, no highs or lows. That should be a virtue. Shouldn't a sort of "balance" be sought after instead?
/rant
