While watching TV, I throw my fifth empty carton of my favorite cookies and cream ice cream on the ground. It’s been six hours, and I haven’t moved a single inch.
I turned to these materialistic things, knowing that they wouldn’t help.
When people try to make themselves happy, they tend to consume materialistic things to combat their sadness. When some are upset, they have the nature to eat their sorrow away, which can sometimes start a downward spiral.
Others use alternative substances such as depressants, stimulants and mood-changing materials. These methods shouldn’t be the primary way to try to cheer ourselves up.
“Materialistic things make you happy for a period of time which is nice, but it is better to get intangible things like love because they are better long term. So materialistic things aren’t bad, but there are better things,” freshman Jordon Rupp said.
In order to avoid being dependent on palpable objects to become happy, we need to focus on communicating with others.
Communication is important, whether it’s with a friend, family member or teacher. Communication with others enables us to release tension rather than keep it inside.
If we open ourselves up to family members or friends, we will find ourselves much happier.
Knowing that we have the ability to share our feelings with other people might be scary at first, but the result brings true happiness.
According to Piaget, the brain does not understand abstract thinking until age 12 or beyond.
Happiness is very abstract thought and is difficult to comprehend it is experienced.
“Sometimes we don’t appreciate the joy and happiness in our lives until we have experienced struggles. Middle School Counselor Rylan Smith said. “Therefore, as teens we often mistakingly label our material things as happiness, rather than looking for our true source of joy.”
Connecting with people close to us not only has a quick effect, but it has a long-lasting outcome. For those who don’t feel close enough to parents or siblings to reach out to them need to find alternative healthy ways to cope.
Being active is another productive way of uplifting our mood.
It gives us a sense of energy and lightness even if we’re tired from a long day of school or work.
In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with medication, exercise or a combination of the two.
To begin with, all groups saw happiness levels increase.
Six months later, the groups were then tested to check their relapse rate, or rate at which participants relapsed into depression.
At that point, 38% of the medication group, 31% of the combination group and 9% of the exercise group slipped into depression.
Therefore, the effect of exercise on happiness cannot be ignored.
We don’t have to be depressed to gain the benefits of being active.
It still helps to make a relaxing and stress-free environment.
Doing exercise releases chemicals called dopamine to the brain, which plays a key role in feeling happy.
Therefore, if we are feeling down, staying active is a fresh way to release any negative feelings we may have locked up inside.
An easy way of releasing any weight is listening to music.
This is a very common, yet effective solution to dealing with problems. It lets you have an outlet to let off any feelings of worry.
A study was done by researchers at McGill University in Canada to see if music releases dopamine to our brains.
Their conclusion was when we anticipate and then actually experience a pleasurable response while listening to music, our brain reacts in distinct ways to release the “feel good” chemical dopamine.
Listening to music can also give you the time that you need to do what you want and not have to think about any problems that may be troubling you.
“Whenever I’m stressed, I usually take a step back from whatever’s stressing me out and I take a break,” freshman Arianna Dantes said. “I’ll either start occupying myself with something else or get more sleep because I tend to be more negative when I’m exhausted. Running always helps relieve the stress too.”
Before we rummage through our pantry because of a hard and stressful day, think about the people close to you that can communicate with you and provide long-lasting, natural happiness.
