

I'm Tired of Unhappy People - gatsby
http://www.inspiredstartup.com/im-tired-of-unhappy-people/

======
ebaysucks
I fully agree with Blake's comment:

"I am of a mixed mind about this. Some of the most brilliant people I know are
not ‘happy’ people, and yet I value their company and opinions more than
people in general.

Infact I often find that people who are _always_ positive are usually faking
it. And I hate fake personalities vastly more than cynics or pessimists."

~~~
barrkel
There is definitely a lack of authenticity when someone is consciously and
deliberately choosing to reframe an event so they can have a more positive
reaction to it. The other trap you can fall into is playing this surface stuff
like it's a game, and not tackling the underlying issues, rather than merely
reframing them. The determined feeling of tackling a problem doesn't resemble
happiness - it happens with more of a furrowed brow - but I don't think it's
"unhappiness" either, which I would put alongside apathy in similarity.

------
noibl
Saying 'unhappiness is a choice' is a bit like saying 'poverty is a choice' in
that the only point of saying it is to rationalise distancing yourself from
it. If you feel that unhappiness is like a contagious disease and that you
sometimes get infected by it, two conclusions follow: the 'choice' thesis
can't be that strong, and it's entirely unnecessary to blame others for the
effect it's having on you.

~~~
barrkel
Emotions are affected by action and reaction, in a cyclical and continuous
feedback fashion. There is no contradiction between saying that un/happiness
is a choice and un/happiness is contagious; it's just that when you're in a
group, there's more than one person choosing how to act, and some measure of
one's reaction is involuntary. The more negative people are in your group, the
harder you have to fight - i.e. the more times you'll have to consciously
choose - to turn reactions more positively.

There are a lot of ambient factors that affect un/happiness though,
particularly health, environment, stress etc. The more of these things that
are getting you down, the more work it is to stay upbeat. The spiral you have
to fight to keep out of is getting discouraged, and not changing those ambient
factors any more.

------
ryan-allen
Boo hoo, stop complaining you big sook!

You obviously understand very little about mental health, some people can't
help it, really.

Winston Churchill was a very depressed fellow, and look what he did and
achieved during a very dark time.

------
apl
I'm genuinely tired of _pseudo-happy_ people. Quite the fluff piece.

~~~
democracy
That's true. A plastic smile doesn't make someone one bit happier.

------
rhizome
I never cease to be amused by the irony of complaining about unhappy people.

