One of my biggest pet peeves is aggressive happiness. The notion that you have to be happy all the time is the most unhealthy thing ever. Imagine if you never felt sad, angry or even content. The best example of this I have is in the movie Inside Out. A big moral of that story is that you have to feel other things in order to know what happiness feels like.
To be completely honest, happiness so exhausting. I can spend an entire day out with friends, family and people that I love just laughing and having an amazing time but I soon as I get home, I feel like if I smile one more time I might explode. And that’s okay. In reality, everyone needs a break from extreme emotions and happiness is one.
Happiness is a big emotion. Just like sadness or frustration, it takes a lot of energy to be feeling that one way all the time. It’s okay to not be happy or sad or anything really. Being content is totally normal. Whenever someone asks me after a great day how I’m feeling I’ll most likely say I’m doing okay. The most frustrating response to hear is, “why just okay when you had such a fun day?” It makes me feel invalidated, like I should feel bad that I am not happy enough for your approval.
Obviously, everyone wants to experience happiness, and that’s healthy. I love being happy, but I couldn’t be happy all day every day just because that’s the “ideal” situation. No one should be feeling guilty for not being happy about a particular situation, especially when such a large emotion can literally cause you to crash at the end of the day. I am not trying to discourage happiness at all; I’m just trying to recognize the fact that happiness makes us tired and socially drained and, once again, that’s perfectly okay. Do what makes you happy but take the space you need.