Don't you really want to be happy?

The unhappiness rate of people is increasing every year. I'm not saying this, research is saying it. In surveys conducted in 1940 and 2015, people were asked how happy they were out of 10. While the average response was 7.5/10 in 1940, this number drops to 7.2/10 in 2015. When we look back 80 years, we see that life conditions were more difficult.

So, how can we be more unhappy than in a period when the world was struggling with wars? (Although we are currently struggling with the pandemic, but we were unhappy even in a research conducted before the pandemic.) Now I want everyone reading this article to think. What are the things that make you happy? What are your expectations from life? Where do you see yourself mentally and physically in 10 years? Love, money, career, marriage, success these seem to be the things that make us happy. So do they really?

Does money make us happy?

In a 2014 LinkedIn survey, recent graduates were asked about their expectations from a job. There is a high salary response of 60%. So, how much salary is a high salary? Think about yourself, how much salary do you want to have? A person earning a minimum wage might say 5,000 per month, 10,000 earning 5,000 , and 20,000 earning 10,000 in response.

Danny Kahneman and Angus Deaton, who are both psychologists and economists, decide to conduct a research on this subject. Many happy, unhappy, stressed people look at their happiness levels as their income level increases. As a result of the research, a logarithmic picture emerges. As their income levels increase, the happiness of all of them increases, but after a certain point it stabilizes. That point is around $75,000, so you can think of it like $6,000 a month. This is an amount that an ordinary American can afford to meet his basic needs and devote time to his hobbies. So, after meeting our needs, more does not make us happy.

We think that owning more, branded bags and luxury cars will satisfy us, but it doesn't. Estimate the total amount spent on gambling in the United States in 2015. 70 billion dollars to be exact. Isn't it a lot more than you expected? That's more than all the money spent on books, movie tickets, concerts, sports events that year. People spend money on games of chance in the hope of getting rich instead of things that will give them real pleasure. This is purely a product of their misconceptions that money will make them happy.

Does True Love Make Us Happy?

Over 15 years, 25,000 people are observed. 1716 of them are getting married. It is seen that those who are in the first 1-2 years of their marriage are happier, and the happiness levels are the same with those who do not marry in the following years. Although they do not experience any difficulties and still love their spouse, they feel like their former happiness. This process is called the honeymoon effect. After a while, the intoxicating effect of love disappears as it gets used to and the excitement disappears. In other words, after the sweet months are over, you start to feel like before that person came into your life.

Does Success Make Us Happy?

I want you to think about how happy you are right now out of 10. Did you think? Remember your student days. The result of an exam that you are very curious about has been announced. You open the result of your exam with excitement. There are 3 situations before us; You can get higher than you expect, you can get the same as you expect, you can get lower than you expect. Estimate how much your happiness will change out of 10 for each of these 3 situations. In 2012, Levine and colleagues are investigating this issue. Predictions for higher than expected, same and lower than expected, respectively, are 8.27, 7.81, 4.42 out of 10 on average. When faced with such a situation in real life, the answer is 6 on average in all cases. In other words, high grades and success do not affect us as much as we think.

Let's take a look at what we've learned so far. Does money make us happy? Not after meeting our living standards. Does love, marriage make us happy? No, after a while. Does success, career make us happy? No. We saw that the things we thought made us happy actually did not make us happy. You may be confused, you may ask yourself what makes us happy then.

Experiences make us really happy. Embarking on new adventures, doing something you've never done before. Consider skydiving, ballooning, swimming with dolphins. In addition to the life satisfaction they will give you, you can see that they are affected when you tell others. Being appreciated by others also adds +1 point to our happiness. We know how important sports are for health. It also has the advantage of having a beautiful body. In addition, it has great benefits for our mental health. Walking for half an hour a day releases happiness hormones as much as low-dose antidepressants do. Exercise is also recommended in the treatment of depressed patients. Sleep. Sleeping less reduces mental activity. It increases the risk of dementia, obesity and heart attack. We all know how grumpy people are who can't get enough sleep anyway.

Kindness makes us happy. There may be volunteer activities. Material and moral assistance, even compliments to others, have a permanent and positive effect on us. Sociability. At the moment, none of us can be very social during the pandemic period, but what a day is technology! Meeting new people, meeting people you haven't seen for a long time raises our mood and makes us feel good.

If you want to feel better, take time for your hobbies, get plenty of exercise, pay attention to your sleep, be kind and socialize!

What is the Unhappiness Rate?

In surveys conducted in 1940 and 2015, people were asked how happy they were out of 10. While the average response was 7.5/10 in 1940, this number drops to 7.2/10 in 2015.

What is True Happiness?

Experiences make us really happy. Embarking on new adventures, doing something you've never done before. Being appreciated by others also adds +1 point to our happiness.

Is Money a Source of Happiness?

Danny Kahneman and Angus Deaton, who are both psychologists and economists, decide to conduct a research on this subject. Many happy, unhappy, stressed people look at their happiness levels as their income level increases. As a result of the research, a logarithmic picture emerges. As their income levels increase, the happiness of all of them increases, but after a certain point it stabilizes.