By Osita Ifezue
Happiness seems elusive in today’s world. One morning in Dublin, I watched a small bird enjoy a feast of wild berries. The rays of the sunrise shone on the smooth, flowery colours of the feathers, making the little bird radiantly beautiful. It sat on the barbed wire fence, picking the reddish-coloured berries till it was full, then flew off. I wondered whether animals experience happiness as humans do. Granted, human consciousness helps us understand things from a greater reflective position. But what lesson of happiness can we learn from this little birdy?
The bird was content eating a fair share of the berries, it was enough.
In contrast, as humans we tend to seek assurance of security through the accumulation of resources. Yet we often over-pursue these securities. We are consumed by the constant pursuit of basic needs and extras that guarantee a level of certainty. These pursuits present constant challenges to a happy life. The frequency of these negative events, along with many struggles, leaves us little time or space to process them. Making happiness feel beyond reach. The stress that comes from these pursuits or the lack of resources stabs us with anxiety, burnout, and depression. Happiness seems harder to attain nowadays, which is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem.
From a layperson’s viewpoint, I have defined happiness as moments of euphoria resulting from positive events that happen in our lives. By this definition, we are happy when good things happen to us and unhappy when bad things happen. Yet, there are experiences of those who face constant negative events and are still perceived as happy individuals. The more I research this topic, the more I discover that the measurement of happiness encompasses more than euphoric moments. While many researchers compare happiness to well-being or quality of life. Well-being does not have a universal definition. It is a combination of what an individual needs and wants to make them feel good. Central to well-being is that human needs are met. Perception, personal circumstances, and social environment all play a role in an individual feeling happy. The pursuit of happiness is an ongoing process, shaped by factors that extend beyond material security.
In Nigeria, we observed that despite all the socioeconomic challenges people faced, they expressed genuine happiness. When you observe the average Nigerian, their projection of happiness can appear intimidating to anyone not familiar with the people. However, if one can list all the challenges they face, it will be how and why the individual is thriving. Another
example, in Ireland, I observed that despite the many social challenges such as for example, housing and access to healthcare, the average Irish person is considered a jolly fellow.
A general ideology in Nigeria is that if we could have measures of welfare guarantees, such as, food, housing, and safety, we would be a lot happier. Yet, we see in some Western societies a higher rate of anxiety, depression, and suicide compared to the Global South. My experience of living in different countries is that people perceive and define their happiness differently. It is about perception! Different places have a multi-dimensional view of happiness despite many challenges. The state plays a huge role in distributing or redistributing resources to individuals. But individuals play a bigger role in shaping how they perceive and pursue happiness. We live in times when such a perception shift will help us navigate the uncertainties of the future.
The perception shift reinforces my main idea of why happiness remains so difficult to achieve, even in places where basic needs are met. Despite welfare systems, we often feel that happiness keeps moving farther away the more we pursue it. The question that still needs to be answered is how happiness should be measured at an objective and subjective level. The series on happiness or well-being will explore current socioeconomic factors influencing happiness in the next article.
