Is it possible to be happy?
I do wonder about whether it is possible to be happy sometimes; in fairness, I wonder about it much less than I used to, before I knew that I could actually be happy. (Even so, stick me in the middle of a despairing episode, one where I have trouble speaking or walking, and I'll still moan about whether I'll actually recover from it, despite clearly having done so in the past. Emotions are far too powerful for their own good.) These days, having actually been happy, I generally don't think about it as much - until someone else, someone in despair, brings it up.
This really is just the hand-wringing of the privileged and disgustingly aloof, but what the hell can I do for them? What can I tell them that isn't an outright lie? It doesn't get better, after all. You don't get happiness on a silver platter - if ever. Nobody's got one overarching answer to finding happiness, and anyone who says otherwise is lying or being stupid. That's not really something that comforts people. You can struggle all your life to be happy and still stay miserable - and that's even without questioning whether happiness should be the highest goal to strive for.
The only time I can categorically say anything about the possibility of happiness is when someone says it's impossible and then claims that they're being realistic. You probably don't want to know what I think about that, but here it is anyway:
Fuck realism.
With a shovel.
There are some situations where realism is acceptable, even necessary; it's good to be realistic when the alternative to that violates laws of science and mathematics, for example. Otherwise, it's a block on achievement masquerading as something sensible. And in a life that's short and shit no matter what you do, needlessly placing restrictions on what you can do is a very stupid thing in a world full of stupid. I tried to live life realistically for a while, and it's not worth it. It's that simple. Everything you wanted to do or to be slips away from you. It still slips away from you if you aim high, but fuck it, at least you tried. At least you tried to do what you want in a world where people shuffle unthinkingly from one institution to another. It's not much consolation, but it's all there is.
I don't know if it's possible to be happy. I don't know if it's possible to achieve eudaimonia. But I know that if you want to try for that, then try. It's not easy and I doubt your chances are good (it's not personal, I doubt anyone's chances are) - but not trying means you'll definitely never succeed.
This really is just the hand-wringing of the privileged and disgustingly aloof, but what the hell can I do for them? What can I tell them that isn't an outright lie? It doesn't get better, after all. You don't get happiness on a silver platter - if ever. Nobody's got one overarching answer to finding happiness, and anyone who says otherwise is lying or being stupid. That's not really something that comforts people. You can struggle all your life to be happy and still stay miserable - and that's even without questioning whether happiness should be the highest goal to strive for.
The only time I can categorically say anything about the possibility of happiness is when someone says it's impossible and then claims that they're being realistic. You probably don't want to know what I think about that, but here it is anyway:
Fuck realism.
With a shovel.
There are some situations where realism is acceptable, even necessary; it's good to be realistic when the alternative to that violates laws of science and mathematics, for example. Otherwise, it's a block on achievement masquerading as something sensible. And in a life that's short and shit no matter what you do, needlessly placing restrictions on what you can do is a very stupid thing in a world full of stupid. I tried to live life realistically for a while, and it's not worth it. It's that simple. Everything you wanted to do or to be slips away from you. It still slips away from you if you aim high, but fuck it, at least you tried. At least you tried to do what you want in a world where people shuffle unthinkingly from one institution to another. It's not much consolation, but it's all there is.
I don't know if it's possible to be happy. I don't know if it's possible to achieve eudaimonia. But I know that if you want to try for that, then try. It's not easy and I doubt your chances are good (it's not personal, I doubt anyone's chances are) - but not trying means you'll definitely never succeed.
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