Isn’t being happy enough? Why is wellbeing so important?

The COVID-19 pandemic took away the possibility of sustained happiness in the year 2020 making it painfully clear to us that both our happiness and emotional well-being is critical, variable, and vulnerable. 

Covid has challenged the possibility of achieving constant happiness as it would be an absurd possibility to achieve under the circumstances of a pandemic.  Perhaps the pursuit of wellbeing is a more realistic and attainable goal.  

Well-being was once thought of as nice to have and to be achieved when all else is accomplished.  Now we accept the notion that wellbeing is a must-have that enables us to navigate the complexities of life we are all dealt with. 

Recognising that wellbeing is not necessarily easy to attain or maintain.  It is possible to achieve a good level of wellbeing even in a pandemic when perhaps happiness may be more difficult to pursue and achieve. The upside of working towards a higher state of wellbeing is it brings rewards for the individual while it also benefits the home and family environment, the workplace, and the community. 

Isn’t Happiness enough?

But what about the allure of seeking happiness?  The master of positive psychology and well-being theory, Martin Seligman describes well-being as a construct compared to happiness which is a thing.  We are confronted in modern society by people asking how are you? Are you happy? I often hear mothers say, ‘I just want my children to be happy’. But happiness on its own which is often measured by a satisfying experience of life at a given point in time is often determined by the pleasurable feeling or a mood at that specific moment in time rather than overtime.  In contrast, wellbeing is multifactorial and considers both happiness and the presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect, usually over time.

Happiness as a measure on its own is vague and doesn’t consider the broad range of emotions that one is likely to experience over a lifetime nor is the avoidance of negative feelings (affect) is a healthy or balanced approach to life. There are simply many situations in life where positive emotional responses are simply not appropriate, such as illness, death, tragedy.  This is not suggesting that an injection of humour is not helpful, but rather allowing for the usual range of emotions to be experienced.

Humans have an inbuilt baseline for happiness and once experiencing a positive or negative response, tend to return to the baseline again.  Think about the purchase of a new car which evokes happiness on the day of delivery, the few weeks after and then the happiness returns to a baseline once again.  

Both wellbeing and happiness remain important as they have been shown to lead to many good outcomes in life including higher productivity, motivation about life and work, living longer and a more healthy and stronger immune system, making more money, being better leaders and better citizens in their workplace.  

An individual‘s well-being is a more holistic measure which can be completed by taking the satisfaction with life survey (SWLS) which is a longitudinal view of one’s life, considering the expectations of life, the conditions of one’s life and a subjective view of whether the respondent has the important things from the life they hoped for.  Distinct from happiness which is more about mood and a sense of optimism in each moment. 

The work of Martin Seligman in Positive Psychology helps demonstrate the more holistic nature of wellbeing with his handy mnemonic PERMA.   The variables of Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment. Any of these elements could provide moments of happiness, particularly the first two as they are subjective, but it is the combination of the elements and interventions and tools that sit within PERMA that contribute to and someone’s wellbeing and also make it measurable.

When we look more closely at Wellbeing and go back to the example of the purchase of the new car, the sense of happiness might be so heightened for a few weeks after the purchase, but then the elated sense of happiness diminishes over time.  However, if the owner of the new car is mindful about this acquisition and participates in the act of savouring and having gratitude for their ability to purchase and care for the new car, this creates a possibility to increase one’s wellbeing through sustained and finding continued joy from the new car purchase.  There are many interventions an individual can adopt to enhance one’s wellbeing and extensive work in the domain of positive psychology provides a scientific basis from which wellbeing can be dialled up. 

While moments of happiness may be fewer during the pandemic, individuals have the capacity to manage their wellbeing once they have access to the knowledge of how accessible wellbeing interventions are and how they can easily adopt them.  Simple actions such as a gratitude journal, the three good things exercise, using signature strengths, a mindfulness and meditation practice, time in nature, savouring moments of joy as simple as making and sipping your morning coffee, reflecting on past positive experiences, naming the meaning behind activities, spending time with people who make you feel good and loved and give you a sense of belonging, while having a sense of achievement and accomplishment from small to big tasks, all contribute to making up one’s wellbeing.  All these interventions are acts of intention, are cost-effective and accessible to all.  

Wellbeing has been widely written about, researched, blogged, and marketed.  It’s not a gimmick but rather an evidence-based way to shift and manage yourself during your life, with whatever is happening in the external world.  

Support for Wellbeing can be gained through coaching, wellbeing workshops, books, and apps.