Life is amazing, yet we’re still unhappy

For many of us life is amazing, even compared to say 100 years ago, a relatively minuscule amount of time given the total human existence. Better healthcare, better housing, better technology, better food, better most things.

Even in poorer places in the world by comparison to 100 years ago, they are better off.

However, in the more affluent, wealthier countries and certainly amongst the most privileged and those who seem to have everything, there are huge amounts of discontentment.

Why? because we are using the wrong metrics. Better technology is a wrong metric, better houses is a wrong metric, more money is a wrong metric, better cars is a wrong metric. Once we adjust our metrics from superficial to more meaningful then we can better measure our contentment.

Life today has us chasing the wrong goals as we are taught the wrong metrics.

If we instead measured quality time with our loved ones, time spent with friends, time enjoying nature, and so on. If we measured the things that will count at the end of our journeys while we are still on them, then we will have a more deep, joyful and contentment journey.

Don’t measure stuff, instead measure purpose, people, connections, love, kindness, empathy, and the things that match our true values, not the one we are hoodwinked into using in order to keep us trapped in a discontentment spiral seeking better fucking everything in order to feel worthwhile.

Life is much happier with the right metrics.

Meaningful pain

Despite what the latest Instagram post or the happy-clappy gurus on Facebook chant every morning, we can not always be happy, shit happens and always will.

The thing is without meaningful pain we can not and will not suffer enough to learn lessons and to be determined to move forward.

Suffering without meaning equals despair and that can bit be sustained by anyone, but if you’ve read Frankl’s “man search for meaning” you’ll know he survived unimaginable pain and suffering because he had a purpose. The greater the meaning, the lower or even no despair. Chip Conley’s “Emotional Equation” book explains it so well, definitely worth a read.

Happiness is peddled as something we need to strive for as it makes money and often happiness is linked to material consumption, working harder, achieving grades etc.

Of course, happiness is good, but so is pain too, well meaningful pain.