Tomorrow is the International Day of Happiness.
In 2012, the General Assembly of the United Nations officially declared March 20 the International Day of Happiness. Per the U.N., it was designated to recognize “the relevance of Happiness and wellbeing as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives.”
What do we know about Happiness?
My senior thesis in college was all about Happiness. I read every book the library had, talked to professors in the psychology, religion, business, and art departments. I interviewed dozens of folks who had dedicated their lives to making the world a better place or who founded inspiring nonprofit organizations. By the time I was working on this paper, I had been recording my only daily joys for years. But this time, I wanted to approach it academically.
What does it mean to be happy?
My research took me to the small mountain nation of Bhutan, the country who actually originated this resolution with the United Nations. Since the early 1970s, Bhutan had adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product. I was fascinated by the way Happiness was being spoken about.
What does it mean to take joy seriously?
In my professional career, I work at a nonprofit that, in short, helps young people change the world. We award lifelong Fellowships that come with seed funding, mentorship, networking, and resources, to undergraduate students in 87 (and counting) countries so they can launch social ventures that touch each of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. As such, I spend a lot of time thinking about social impact.
How can Happiness change the world?
Yesterday, I joined a meeting of the Slippery Rock University SPARK Club, one of our oldest kindness chapters founded in 2016 at a college near my hometown in Western Pennsylvania. I met the students and talked about how The Smile Project started and how they join a long tradition of students at their university who are dedicated to making the world a better place through kindness. Through joy.
Can Happiness change the world?
I told them about how when I was a little kid, I wanted to do everything. I told them how I still do. I told them how overwhelming it was to see the rainforests being destroyed and animals being abused and people facing systemic injustices and not know where to begin. I wanted to change the world but the world felt like it needed a lot of change. And so even after I started The Smile Project and even after years of work, I wasn’t sure what it even was that I was trying to do.
Can joy be the mission?
Then in the summer of 2018, my best friend and I spent 2 months living out of a rental car and driving around the United States. We worked with over 30 organizations in 28 states facilitating a national pay it forward project and connecting people who may never meet in places they may never visit. Introducing the mission of an afterschool program to a prison education initiative to a nursing home to a refugee empowerment center. Working across cause spaces and state lines to prioritize connection and kindness and joy.
What does it look like to prioritize Happiness?
Since I was 17-years-old, I have published a daily creed: Happiness. In two months and one day, I will turn 31. Joy is my longest relationship. It has been the most constant thing in my life since I was a teenager. Through university. Through new cities. Through relationships and apartments and friendships and jobs. Through weddings and funerals and through the simple routines of shopping for vegetables and going to the dentist. My entire adult life is defined by Happiness.
What does it mean to define yourself by something?
Every Monday at my job we start our weekly huddle with an ice breaker. A recent question asked us what our younger selves would find so shocking about our lives now. And before I could dig into my young brain, my mind jumped to happy. If you’d have told my 17-year-old self that she’d still be posting Happiness is… If you’d have told my 17-year-old self that we’d get to be happy… that we’d grow up and be deliriously happy…
Can you trust that you deserve to be happy?
Tomorrow is the U.N. International Day of Happiness. I’ve studied Happiness academically, spoken on the topic around the country; and journaled 4880 days of joy. Happiness is my entire life. But how can it feel like it matters in times where so much injustice is happening around us… at times where the world feels unsteady and unkind?
Does Happiness still matter?
In talking with the SPARK students yesterday, I shared with them an insight that took me years to grasp. So overwhelmed I was by the “trying to change the world” that I nearly missed how I’d changed my own. As I let Happiness transform my life, I became a better friend. A better partner. A better community member. Happiness changed my life in every sense of the world. And when I was at my best, I was able to give back to the communities that molded me.
It can feel silly or simple to say that we’re dedicating a whole day to a word that is more often than not associated with a big yellow smiley face or a fast food meal. But when we are able to tap into our joy we become powerful. And powerful people change the world.
Happiness matters.
Happiness is always going to matter.
I have never once regretted the decision to pursue joy. I have never once regretted doing the joyful thing. I have never once regretted choosing joy.
How will you spread Happiness?
On the International Day of Happiness tomorrow and on every day of your beautiful life?
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