This is a total travesty of the truth - as Jenny could easily tell you - and needs to be rapidly corrected. The fact is that I'm often happy and relaxed and probably no more neurotic than anyone else. I just happen to have written about my neuroses so often they've unfairly taken centre stage and the rest of my emotional life is left hovering in the wings waiting desperately to speak its lines.
I think the problem is that fears and anxieties and phobias and all the rest are a lot easier to write about than happiness and enjoyment. What can I say about happiness except that I'm happy or not? Euphoric or not? Delighted or not? There's nothing more to say, is there?
I suppose in some cases I could be specific and say, ah yes, I'm happy because I landed that job or booked that holiday or caught up with that long-lost friend. But mostly I feel happy for no obvious reason (as one does). Suddenly I'm over the moon, and I really couldn't tell you why. There could be chaos all around me,there could be a dozen crises on the horizon, but I'm unaccountably and bizarrely happy. How do I explain that? I can't.
So you'll just have to take my word for it that I'm happy as often as I'm neurotic, even if I don't mention it. I may be whooping with joy or leaping with excitement, but how would you know? Only if I install a webcam. But that might reveal a few ugly truths along with the bursts of happiness, so I think I'll pass on that one.
Neurotic or happy? Tell you what, I'm a multi-tasker. I can do both.
It's much the same as the way we're very quick to moan when things go wrong, but when they go right (which is most of the time) we rarely seem to notice.
ReplyDeleteDave: Very true. There's nothing much to say about things going right, is there? It's just what you expect.
ReplyDeleteIt still helps to look for, say, point out a good thing every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of an Eeyore ....
ReplyDeleteA very nice combination and something that most of us are like.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Indeed. And find one thing that fills you with a sense of wonder.
ReplyDeleteHelen: Surely not? You must have a bright and breezy side somewhere.
Ramana: Exactly. I think most of us veer between hopelessly screwed-up and inexplicably cheerful.
oh nick.
ReplyDeletei love that phrase.
it's me. hopelessly screwed up and inexplicably cheerful.
thanks!
I can be both, as Ramana says, in an hour. And have been today. Reactions to others mainly: maniacal laughter or horrified contempt. And round and round.
ReplyDeleteI think of you are more on the depressive side from your writings. So good to hear Mr. Happy is in there somewhere.
XO
WWW
Unfortunately, most people are more interested in our problems than in our joys. If they're interested in us at all. :)
ReplyDeleteTammy: Ain't that the truth?
ReplyDeletewww: On the depressive side? Perhaps....
Jean: Very true. Some people love to gloat over others' misfortunes, don't they?
Yes but when you write about your happiness you will transmit good vibes which is always a positive way to show that even if life is not really easy every day we can try to pick up little moments of joy. That's what counts. A smile, a coffee shared sometimes with an unknown person, helping a blind to cross the street and bring some cookies to an ill neighbour. For the World's destiny we can unfortunately do little, but in our daily life bring happiness to others makes us happy too. That's what I believe.
ReplyDeleteMia More
Mia: That's true, those little gestures to other people bring moments of happiness. And yes, writing about happiness spreads good vibes. I must try and share my happiness more often!
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised you don't write more personal anecdotes.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Most of my personal anecdotes are mind-numbingly dull. But I'll see if I can dig out some interesting ones.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteNo anecdote is dull if you can look at it in the right way.
Look at John Gray, he writes about his everyday life with a house full of animals and an occasional shift at work and he has hundreds of devoted readers
Kylie: I was thinking of John myself. He has a brilliant knack of turning every daily incident into something wonderfully dramatic. Somehow I lack that skill. Also, I don't have a house full of idiosyncratic and entertaining (and defecating) animals. But I'll see what I can do.
ReplyDeleteI just like floating around in the water. Doesn't take much with me!
ReplyDeleteHattie: Floating around in the water? Don't quite follow you. But mental floating-around I'm very good at.
ReplyDeleteBeing happy for no reason is the best sort!
ReplyDeleteSuburbia: Isn't it just? And such fun while it lasts.
ReplyDeleteI'm finding it harder than usual to stay happy with the current state of politics and the way the country seems so divided. I dont' usually get that bothered about politics - but for some reason this is really getting to me, it feels all wrong.
ReplyDeleteJenny: I do agree, the present political situation in the UK is really scary and regressive and hate-fuelled, and I'm very worried about the way things are going. Democracy is being trampled on in every direction, and the references to fascism are not too wide of the mark.
ReplyDelete