It’s become common place for people to urge others to “just do what makes you happy” not realizing the damage one could be doing. The first issue with this “concept” is that it cannot be applied universally. Meaning, there are people out there that “enjoy” raping people, and they believe it makes them happy. Is it ok for them to “just do what makes them happy”? The obviously answers to the question is no, but who and what decides what’s acceptable behavior? More on this later. The second problem with this “concept” is the actual belief that something can “make” you happy. This belief is probably one of strongest contributors to excessive consumerism, the failure of marriage in the West, and a host of other issues in our society. If one believes that something or situation can “make” you happy, then in theory one will be holding themselves hostage until those events occur. And if they ever do, one may be “stressed” by the possibility of losing those things. This is why you see people become enslaved by their jobs because they are “trapped” by a lifestyle that they believe they have to keep up. Why? Because they believe the lifestyle makes them happy. The worst part about this concept is that when that thing or situation leaves you, one is back to being “unhappy” until things “get better”. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, the funny thing about this is that all of the top marketing agencies know this about people, and they are racking in billions at the expense of your unhappiness. Let me explain.
When Steve Job passed away back in 2011, it was said that through the innovation that he initiated at Apple with the iPhone and iPad, he brought so “much happiness” to the world. Millions of people gathered at Apple stores around the worlds to “mourn” the death of a man that sold them products. Strange picture, right?
Companies have discovered that the ultimate “life hack” to marketing is to capitalize off of the inability of people to enjoy life in general. If people believe that their happiness is waiting somewhere down the line when they take that vacation, or buy that pair shoes, or buy that new phone, then they’ll have you forever. Because “joy” is one of the most intense primal urges that people experience. The drive to be joyful goes all the way back to primitive “Man”. That reward mechanism is in place to incentivize your survival. In nature things that are “tasty” are usually good for you as well (there are exceptions). So, the dopamine release is encouragement to keep doing things that will you and the species alive (sex). In fact, nothing really gets accomplished in life if joy is not associated with it. That’s why people say, get involved with something that doesn’t feel like work, because the joy will provide the energy to carry out the tasks. The revelation that should come to those individuals that say such things, should be, “well, if joy makes my job/business easy, then I should figure out how to generate joy in whatever I do to make my life easy.” That sounds like a reasonable conclusion, right? If one can figure out how to generate joy in a way that is totally independent of something or a situation outside of themselves then life would become easy. But there is multi-billion-dollar media machine out there that wants you to think otherwise. So, to not become a hostage to your own happiness. Crack a huge smile, no matter what’s going on in life. Because if you reflect back on hard times, the negative emotions were the hard part not the situation.