Introduction: It is of no doubt that we all ashumans have an essential desire to be happy. Happiness fuel our driving force to live eachday despite whatever life throws at us.
However, in life we can see that happinesstakes two distinct forms . One is fleeting , and the other is enduring.Now, bothWhippman (2017) and Graves (2017) both agrees that the happiness we are all seekingis one of sustainability rather than onethat is fleeting in nature where over time you inceasingly need more to havethat same brief moment of happiness (2017).
Now , I am sure nobody wants a short-lived happiness like how a fashiontrend may be just be fad for a period of time and then after the activity isover, you are down and gloomy. Therefore , it is agreed that we should notfocus on momentarily pleasure-filled activities when seeking lifelong happiness.Thesis statement: Sustainable happinesscan be found from building good social networks through human relationships andinteractions for humans are intrinsically social creatures and the lack of therefore is unnatural and detrimental tohappiness.
Sustainable happiness is derived from emotional interdependence withone’s soul and with how it internalise meaningful contentment with itsinteraction with the people.According to Graves, happiness is observing andcataloguing into the brain the little moments of joy you can experience in a day regardless of howminute they seem to be as well reflecting and focusing on oneself (2017). Tan,a google pioneer and author of Joy onDemand:The Art of Discovering The Happiness Within ( as cited in Graves,2017) adds on that at the same time, one should also partake in acts ofbenevolence such as helping a colleague with a project, holding the door or to wish someone happiness. Acts which all hasthe possibility of building relationships and making connections as it involvestwo or more individuals interacting. This shows that looking only within andhaving a personal emotional experience isn’t enough (Whippman, 2017) ; for wejust can’t channel happiness into our mind by observing and appreciating allkinds of interaction because naturally weare more inclined to derived fulfilling contentment from a social kind ofinteraction. Though looking inwards andfinding stability in oneself is important,we humans intrinsically are emotionally interdependent withothers in regards to internalising deep,meaningful and long-lasting contentment with brings forth long-lastinghappiness (Whippman, 2017). Humans bynature craves the innate need to be social. Humans are by nature , socialcreatures.
Even Aristotle ( as cited inCristian, 2016) state that humans have an intrinsic need to be social and thatthe society precedes an individuals so much so that if an individual is so self-sufficientand is unsocial naturally and not because of an accident must either be a godor a beast. According to Whippman (2017), the ” finding yourself” philosophy hasbeen embraced so profoundly that it has altered the way we have face-to-face human interactions where even spiritual endeavorsshifted from community-focus to self–focus meditation and personal growth.Iteven transcended into the amount of time we spend with others .
According tothe Bureau of Labor statistics’s Time Use Survey ( as cited in Whippman, 2017), the average American spends about 24 hours in a year engaging in an organisedsocial occasions which is appalling but regrettably the case in this instagramand facebook ( ironically also known as “social media”) era. The need forsocial interaction is so profound that even in the quest for self- care , people still find the need to be at least besocial online so as to sate that innate desirefor interaction which it still cannot replace.