Happiness by choice

People think money will make them happy, but money doesn’t have anything to do with happiness. Money can provide comfort, security and freedom. But happiness is internal, it is your attitude towards life, happiness is when your expectations meet reality. There is a thinking that other people should make you happy. Many people who are struggling with happiness believe that other people should bring happiness into their lives. No one wants to be with an unhappy individual, so the solution to your problem is to make peace with yourself and be happy.

People spend too much time on the social networks these days. From TV we have moved on to Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. How do we react when we see the amazing life of others on social media? The problem with social media is that it’s a curated environment where people choose to showcase only the best things in their lives. We have the option to look into the lives of celebrities and others, but we rarely see their struggles, pain, sufferings, sleepless nights and depression. Nobody wants to seem vulnerable, yet we end up believing that the best is all there is to their lives. And when we compare their life with ours, it seems like we are falling short.

Bad relationships with our siblings and family are also a cause of unhappiness. People underestimate the power of a strong support group, and the family is probably the strongest one there is. Junk food and

happiness are directly correlated with our health. If we’re healthy, if we’re in shape, we’re likely to be happier. Our problems will not go away if we shove five burgers into our mouth or if we cry our self to sleep while eating ice-cream.

The major issues challenging the happiness of people are financial problems, unemployment, broken relations and health problems. As a result, many people take the path of suicide. Close to 800,000 people commit suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds in the global context.

Looking at Nepal, in fiscal year 2014/15, 4,350 deaths were registered followed by 4,705 deaths in 2015/16. Likewise, there were 5,131 deaths in 2016/17 and 5,346 deaths in 2017/18. This shows the increasing rate of suicides in the country, which is the result of an unhappy life. This is an alarming sign. Are we strong enough to question ourselves in which direction we are heading? Happiness is a choice, not a result. Are we ready to take our choices consciously?