Ask HN: Are You Happy?

Short answer: yes!<p>Long answer: Yes, but life is still full of struggles and letdowns and obstacles and joy. If you eliminate the struggles and letdowns and obstacles, your life will become quite uneventful and you&#x27;ll strangely desire them.<p>One thing that has helped me is that when I don&#x27;t know what I want to do with my life, I <i>default to short-term goals of self-improvement</i>. Namely, improving my diet, sleep, nutrition, mental health, taking on a new fitness hobby, etc.<p>I think the key is framing things right[1].<p>1. Unless you are depressed or have self-destructive thoughts. Then, you should seek professional counseling, which is immensely helpful. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;988lifeline.org&#x2F;talk-to-someone-now&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;988lifeline.org&#x2F;talk-to-someone-now&#x2F;</a>

I&#x27;ve become a lot more happy when I made a family. There was that quiet desperation in the background that I muted out in favor of connectedness with my family. For now my main goal is simple, survive enough to see my child turn 20ish, I will be in my 60s. When&#x2F;if I get there I may move goalposts. During this time I plan to spend as much time with my family as possible but I also have some hobbies that I need to tend to from time to time. Between family, work and my hobbies there isn&#x27;t much time left to ruminate on existential fears. I am thinking about mortality on a daily basis though not with anxiety but with acceptance. I constantly remind myself how lucky I am to still be around.<p>It&#x27;s certainly not the same kind of happiness that I was seeking when I was younger. It&#x27;s a quiet one, with contentment of any modest gains in my goals. Even some losses put into this perspective are somehow more bearable.<p>Are YOU happy? What kind of happiness are you looking for? I didn&#x27;t get what I was initially seeking but stumbled on something else which is arguably more meaningful. Did YOU find a meaning in YOUR life?

I should be happy, but I’m not. 99% of my unhappiness comes from the fact that I wake up in the morning and think how I am going to waste my entire day at my job (highly paid FAANG “nonetheless”).<p>Me being alive in this universe and at this point in time is such a miracle and rare privilege, and yet I waste most of it in Corporate America.<p>The only thing I tried so far is changing jobs multiple times: I still feel the same.

Not happy as no anchor in life. Tried some hobbies but none sticks for more than 6 months. Guess it&#x27;s a trial I have to figure out.

I don&#x27;t believe in happiness. I believe that too many people spend too much time chasing an elusive dream of happiness. This includes myself at various periods of my life.<p>I believe in contentedness. I think that if more people (again, myself included) could live in the moment, they would be content. Being content sounds pretty great.

The problem is many people will say “yes” after quickly adding up all the things in their life, but individually they live a life of quiet desperation.

Happy enough to not being willing to change very much about my life.

yes. i like my job. i love my gf. i like my life. things are good.

Yes, why?

How about you OP?

No

meh...