We've all had one of those friends at some point in our lives. You know the kind that I'm referring to; the adaptable kind. Let me tell you about one of my current friends. So, let's just name her Lizzie, for anonymous reasons and argument's sake. Lizzie isn't exactly a star pupil; in fact she can barely pass her midterms. So when she does manage to do relatively well in school, it's a holiday at Lizzie's house.
And this was the ultimate case; Lizzie had done surprisingly well on her History exam and got rewarded grandly; a trip to France. (I'm not even going to start on how strongly I feel about this . . . If my parents went along with Lizzie's parents' corrupted mindsets I'd be the next Jackie Chan) Two weeks before actually flying to ze Love Capital, Lizzie spent 200 dollars on headphones which then followed up with her mother revoking the trip. (The situational irony is that her mother probably saved a great deal of money by annulling it.) And so Lizzie was left without her 200 dollars worth of headphones (her mother felt it appropriate to return them to the store) and without her trip to France. This sounds terrible, doesn't it?
Well one week later, in celebration of the actuality that the whole class passed the History exam, Stephanie - a girl from our school - threw an immense party at her house. This is what Lizzie said to me while contemplating on what to wear for the party one evening, "You know, Michelle, if I did go to France I wouldn't have been able to go to Stephanie's epic party. I guess it's pretty good that my mom canceled." Of course you can't even BEGIN to compare a night on the Eiffel tower surrounded by miniature, lustrous stars while some French guy named Jacques paints a portrait of you and a seraglio to a pool party at Stephanie's. Then the real question is; why did Lizzie say that even though it's not remotely true?
A little something called synthetic happiness. I was watching an informational video the other day - that my friend sent - on happiness. The speaker touched upon every possible subject regarding happiness and even answered some curious questions. First off, there are two kinds of happiness; "true happiness" and "synthetic happiness". Which one do you think is better just judging by their names? Of course "true happiness" sounds a great deal better than "synthetic happiness" because after all, synthetic means false. I am here to tell you though that you are wrong. Synthetic happiness IS the "better" of the two . . .
Now let's analyze both. The main difference between the two consists of the concept that the following fictional example demonstrates: Both Jill and Karin applied for a job at Ben N' Jerry's. Jill got the job; she achieved "true happiness". Karin did not get the job but realized that the store was too far anyways from her house and if she did get the job, she would have been obliged to endure two long bus rides each and every day. Karin achieved "synthetic happiness". The difference is evidently drastic. Jill achieved happiness because she got her "dream" and initial job. Karin did NOT get the job but realized that if she had, she would have had transportation problems.
In terms of Jill's situation the fact that she got it made her happy, whereas for Karin's situation the fact that she didn't get it also made her happy because she would have had problems getting to the workplace. Undoubtedly, Jill's situation is considerably better than Karin's and clearly if Karin had gotten the job, the transportation would have been a measly problem. The quintessential fact that Karin made it work EVEN THOUGH not everything worked out for her in the end, shows that synthetic happiness is greatly "better" than "true happiness".
Perceptibly, now we must go into depth. "True happiness" is exactly what it sounds like; happiness provoked because things have fallen into place and everything is working out smoothly. "Synthetic happiness" is exactly the opposite only with the same conclusion; happiness MADE because things didn't work out, adaptation to the alternative. Just like white is white, I hope the differentiating points are visibly apparent. I would rather MAKE my own happiness by adapting than waiting for things to fall evenly and for life to "work". I would rather BE happy ALL the time as opposed to being happy every so often when something in life happens to work out. "Synthetic happiness" is vastly superior and "better" than "true happiness".
I hope that this article was very didactic for all of you and I hope that you took something out of it that will never leave you. Get out there, fail (it happens to the best of us), and be synthetically happy!
Editor's Note: I am a firm believer in happiness is something that we create. You can't wait around for things to happen and happiness to come your way. Go after life, be thankful and grateful for what you have, and believe in happiness.
