Reviewed Date: April 2nd, 2023
In modern times, we are all expected to be happy, even at the risk of ruining our mental health. Self-help gurus and coaches say that happiness is a choice, pain and suffering are something that you are inflicting on yourself. Failing to be happy is seen as a sickness, something wrong with you.
The more you try to be happy, the more unhappy you will be. Happiness has to be a by-product of what we do, our achievements, and living a meaningful life. But society tells you otherwise; you can be happy just because you are a human. The truth is, it is a delusion.
And also, people don’t want to experience pain and discomfort; they just want to run after pleasures. At some point, these pleasures become hollow; they want more pleasure to feel human. It is sick to see the society we live in where people don’t recognize hardships as the way to harden themselves and get true happiness.
We don’t want to hear opinions that are contrary to ours; we constantly shut the voices of people because we are “triggered” in some way and expect the world to function according to us. And the people getting offended by minute things reveals how emotionally and intellectually shallow they are.
The Other Side of Happiness is an interesting and thought-provoking read. My major complaint is the author often goes on to explain experiments that cover full pages, but I can read the conclusion in the 4th paragraph. The good thing is, the author is self-aware and mentioned the limitedness of a few studies. I recommend this to everyone.
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