I guess there is a poll for everything, including happiness. According to the Wall Street Journal & the Washington Post the US has hit a new low in “world happiness” driven largely by young people. We have fallen to the lowest since the global ranking began in 2012 according to writer, Claire Ansberry. She also reports “Americans fell to 23rd place in happiness down form 15th a year ago according to data collected in the Gallup World Poll for World Happiness Report 2024.
That seems drastic to me. How could large numbers of people go from happy to unhappy in such a short period?
What have we done to our young people? Have we given them too much materially? Have we taught them that they are entitled to have it all? If we think about many other countries who have so little, yet they are satisfied, how do we rationalize unhappiness of the masses in America.
I realize there is a lot of young people deal with. They often spend hours on social media & think they are being social. They don’t understand that people only put their best on social media. A person can’t compare themselves to others and certainly not to the person portrayed behind a screen. I’s almost like they are not real people, but fictional. Then there is always the need to be accepted and when someone feels unaccepted, they feel inferior. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
We were created for community and that is not social media but real community; the kind where you spend time with others (not looking down at an iPhone) but real eye to eye contact and communication.
I’m sure you have heard that happiness is contagious, I believe the same is true for unhappiness. Who wants to be around someone who is unhappy? You can be sure that unhappiness is also contagious. So, could we each determine to be happy and if possible, find that unhappy person in our sphere and try to rub off some happiness on them?
Let us look for the good things we have been blessed with and be thankful for them. Share some good news with someone. I’m not saying to be fake, that’s not right either but I’m confident that if we seek to find good things in our lives we will find them.
Make a difference in someone’s life today, an impact for good. When we think of others and get our focus off of what we think we don’t have we will find ourselves to be more content, more satisfied and happier.
