How happy are you?
It’s the Holy Grail of life. That state of being that—despite whatever the fourth king of Bhutan sought to define back in the 1970s—is wholly subjective and personal. Despite the title of this piece, however, the better topic of discussion is not how happy we are, but what makes us happy. If happiness is to be chased, journeyed to, or practiced, what are the factors that may help you along the way?
So we tried to find out. We created a survey that aimed just that and left it on the Manila Bulletin website to respond to. There, we first asked the respondents to rate their happiness between 1 (extremely unhappy) to 5 (extremely happy). After which, we asked them a series of questions that pertained to their profile and habits: Do they smoke? Do they take vitamins a day? How old are they?
Some of the results are surprising while others reinforced certain longstanding beliefs. Asking people to define themselves is also enlightening. And, for geeks like us, big data is always worth a look and a think. Here’s what we found out: The biggest indicator in our survey is with job contentment. Those who scored their work satisfaction lower rated their overall happiness at 3.23, while those who are happier with their jobs are at 3.97. When it comes to this survey, that .64 difference is unassailable.
Pet owners rated their happiness at 3.58 while those who don’t have pets were higher at 3.71. This surprised as this goes our basic assumption that having more connections would lead to an elevated general feeling of happiness.
Perhaps the qualifier is more human connections. Our survey takers who are single had a happiness rating of 3.55, which is almost a .40 difference from those who are married at 3.91. This factor, in particular, is one of the most indicative in the results. Despite people thinking that a bombardment of negative stories will affect them, the survey shows that those who read or watch the news every day rate their happiness higher at 3.75. It’s a .21
difference from those who don’t, who
are at 3.53. And then there’s being aware enough to exercise your rights. Those who participated at least once in the last three elections rated their happiness at 3.70 while those who didn’t are at 3.55. Expressions of faith seem to matter. Weekly churchgoers rated their happiness at 3.71 while those who don’t pay regularly visits to a place of worship are at 3.58. Meanwhile, those who pray every day had an average rating of 3.75 as opposed to the 3.42 of those who don’t. How we get around is also a factor, according to the results. The commuters in our survey rated their happiness at 3.57, while those who drive have their rating at a much higher 3.84. Stewing in traffic in your own car is more preferable than stewing in traffic with a million other people, we suppose. Curiously, those who work or study within 30 minutes of where they live had a rating of 3.57, which is much lower than those who don’t at 3.72. Those who eat three meals a day rate their happiness at 3.68, while those who don’t are at 3.36, a .32 difference. Meanwhile, those who aren’t in debt have a happiness rating of 3.78, a .42 difference against those who are, which is at 3.36. These results are more or less expected.
Smoking seems to not as a matter as much. The smokers in our survey rated their happiness only slightly lower at
3.59 as opposed to non-smokers who are at 3.65. Taking vitamins seems to be a bigger factor; those who do are at 3.76, while those who don’t are at 3.55. Having physical activities (sorry,
guys) has a positive effect. Those who exercise regularly are at 3.78, while those who don’t are at 3.56. Those who plays sports are at 3.71, while those who don’t are at 3.62. Being able to pursue interests also seem to benefit your happiness rating. Those who have hobbies are at 3.77,a .30 difference from those who don’t at
3.47. The trend is the same for a particular interest, reading. Those who read a book regularly have a rating of 3.78, while those who don’t are at 3.53.
The men and women in our survey generally did not differ in their average happiness rating; the gentlemen are at 3.62, a .05 difference from the ladies who are at 3.67. Age is a bigger factor, in a way that getting older seems to place you in a better disposition. Those are 17 years old and below rated their happiness at 3.36. The 18 to 35 year olds are .23 happier at 3.59. But the ones who are at 36 years old and above averaged 3.96.
Our fearless editor-in-chief CrisIcban might be on to something. When asked what makes him happy, he says without skipping a beat, “memories.” Maybe you get happier as you reach closer to your twilight years. At that point, “memories is all you have,” he says with a laugh.