I grew up without Social Media .
I had to learn about memes and snapchats and lives and stories and hashtags! For my kids today it is second nature to them. What concerns me today is are we actually seeing people’s lives the way they genuinely live them or are we seeing their happy selves through the eyes of filters and touch ups?
What does this mean for the regular person trying to live their life and find some form of happiness? Are we a society obsessed with being happy? Does it actually stress us out to try to be happy?
According to Dr Burnett, author of The Happy Brain, ” A full range of emotional experience is necessary for well being.” This actually means that we need to experience, not only happiness but sadness and understand how to cope so we can truly appreciate happiness. We live in a world where it seems that everyone seems to be stressed all the time from either work, school, relationships, news and politics. This is life, it is a reality, bad things happen we cannot be happy ALL the time.
But there are wonderful benefits to being happy. Apart from the obvious of feeling less stressed and more aware of the positives. It is scientifically proven that being happy is physically good for you.
Being happy releases serotonin. Serotonin is the key hormone of happiness, since it regulates mood, prevents depression, thwarts irritation and makes you happy and sociable.
Perhaps 2023 should be the year of happiness, perhaps we need to acknowledge the stress and bad times but also find time to release some serotonin by finding activities that make us happy. Whether it is getting a puppy, reading a good book in front of a fire, yes eating a piece of great chocolate cake or just spending time belly laughing with good friends.