Happiness is Subjective
What exactly is happiness? Happiness according to the Oxford English Dictionary is the state of being happy. Thus, happiness is a momentary and changing feeling in one’s circumstances and not a characteristic of a person. Meanwhile, subjective refers to personal feelings, perspectives or opinions whereas objective is mainly based on pure facts (Jeffrey Glen, 2013). So, why is happiness subjective?
The essence of happiness is that happiness varied among people. Happiness is a psychological condition of one’s contentment that manifests into an assortment or a mixture of emotions like joy, gratitude, and love. It is subjective because it is in the individual’s mind. This is due to everyone’s different upbringings, within varied cultures and religions as well as different experiences as we grow up. Undoubtedly, this creates various complex people in the world carrying along with different mindsets, visions, and ideology (Charlie Victor, 2016).
Lastly, happiness is indeed subjective because when things like eating well and cute things are agreed to make most people happy, for certain people, murder makes people like psychopaths or deranged killers happy. For instance, Ted Bundy felt adrenaline rush right after killing someone. This is because preferences which make people feel happiness can be largely determined by culture and nurture. Things that are taught to society as happiness may not make others feel the same way (Patrick Liendo, 2017).
To conclude, happiness is varied and subjective as it is influenced by the changes in our personal feelings and moods. Our happiness depends on us, and it is our choice to feel whatever we want to feel on a certain day. You are responsible for your own happiness.
