Would you describe your life as happy or sad?

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Couldn't say, really. When I'm happy, like now, I'd say "mostly happy" because everything seems to have turned out for the best. When I'm down, just the opposite. Things are on the upward trend, though, so that's good enough for me.

I am mostly happy even when I go through difficult times in my life I try to look for the silver lining. Life is what you make of it. Everything is temporary anyways really if you look at it that way you can enjoy the moments in between better.

Well... I have depression, and when I have that I'm mostly emotionless. When I don't, I'm mostly calm or interested. I wouldn't say "happy", because highly-energetic positive emotion like "happy" just isn't something that happens to me that often. But I don't really want it to. I'd rather be calm/interested than euphoric.

If by "happy" you mean that I'm satisfied with my life, then yes, I'm happy. But if I were constantly in a state of euphoria, I think I'd just burn out and go nuts. Which is maybe exactly what happens to people with bipolar mania, come to think of it.

Happy.

Could be the anti-depressants though. But nah, in all my apathetic gloom and anxiety, I've always been happy overall.

Happy/Sad isn't an accurate dichotomy. I might be fed up and ruminating on the unfairness of my life a lot of the time and not whooping for joy but I don't see that as being overtly sad.

I don't aim for happiness, I aim for contentment/staying alive. If you are continually expecting happiness that's a recipe for disaster in life in my opinion. I aim for something far more low key as it's more achievable.

Society has become obsessed with everyone needing to be manically happy all the time, otherwise they're some kind of sad loser - not everyone's like this though. I'd be unhappy amongst a crowd of whooping idiots but feel generally ok when on my computer doing research.

It definitely makes sense to me. So, I may say I'm generally "happy", but that doesn't mean I always feel euphoric, sometimes I have to feel sad or even depressed a bit to be able to appreciate happier times. I feel happy for example when I'm making progress with my life, or simply doing something interesting.

I see what you mean. To me happy is a strong, intense emotion, where the person is on a high, a bit like ecstatic but less so. Whenever I feel like that I know there's only one way to go after feeling so 'up' and that's down, so it unnerves me as I know it can't last.

True.

To me happiness is contentment, but I still agree that one should not expect life to be all happy, even defining happy as contented. We live in a world where, in Nature, there's as much death, decay, destruction as there is birth, growth and renewal. Why should humans, who are part of Nature, even though we try to box ourselves off from it as much as possible, why should we think we can escape the reality of Nature?

One thing I strive for is acceptance. I work on things I think I can and want to change. What I can't change I work on accepting. Acceptance is sometimes the hardest part of that, especially when I'm feeling energetic enough to fight what is, to change something. The working on change is hardest when I feel less energetic. But in each of those can't-do scenarios, the other one is possible and works for me if I set my focus in the right direction. The trick is knowing myself well enough to recognize which state I'm in, and what I should change and should accept.

I'm the exact same. It's usually when I think, 'Ooo life is going really well' that I start to descend downwards.

Yeah why you, him or me. It sucks to be deal a bad hand of cards.

I often wonder if and how i would be different if i was just normal. but than again, then i wouldn be me but another person.

If there really are infinite realities, i guess some versions of me somewhere, hopefully got a good hand of cards.

I would describe my life as "intense".
I feel it's a mixture of both, but I feel deep sadness more often than strong happiness I suppose.

I think most other people, if they knew everything I've been through and what I think about daily, would say my life was sad. No friends much of my life, unable to speak or feel a part of "the group" throughout my entire school and college life, many nights spent crying in confusion and self hate, many hours obsessing over my flaws and wondering of other people's intentions.

I know of people that smile all the time and feel confident and can talk to people and say whatever they want to whoever they want. They can talk about their accomplishments, goals, and dreams. They worry about studying hard enough to succeed. But they do not need to worry about overcoming strong, deeply ingrained fears and some kind of "out-of-stepness" with the people around them. Yes, I've felt jealous. But when I am able to pull myself out of the water and breathe, I enjoy the sad parts of my life just as one enjoys a good drama on TV. I have a somewhat unique experience and I'll try to enjoy it for what it is.

I suppose if I was able to compare my mind to that of other people and found out that most other people are more intelligent and have a clearer view of the world that I do, I would be much less happy with my life. But for now, I feel like a capable person that is just stuck in the wrong place.

Oh, and no clue what to pick on the poll, so I didn't submit an answer yet.

Same here. My life seems to be divided between dark periods where my mental illnesses go out of control - and if I'm unlucky, family drama too - and periods where everything is peaceful and idyllic.

Mostly Happy.

I have always been able to appreciate the things that i already have. I know things in any circumstance could always be worse.

You have freedom to chose. As long as no one is trying to define who i am; it's all good.

And even then, i'm not unhappy more like a bit perturbed.

There is a reason you hear stories of Wall street executives giving up high 6 figure salaries to own a small business in the country that garners a much lower income.

or

Genius mathematicians leaving academia to live as a recluse, somewhere.

It isn't worth it to many people especially IF you are not systematically brought up.. in these environments at a young age.

TheSunAlsoRises

AS you learn and grow, engage and disengage, and observe society unfiltered; you start to realize something.

The vast majority of people(Autists and Non-Autists) do NOT have Theory of Mind as it is currently defined.


What people have is shared experiences THAT have high probable outcomes in a given social situation.

IF ToM was truly present as currently defined; i submit to you THAT far fewer conflicts between groups and individuals of diverse backgrounds would occur....

TheSunAlsoRises

I think Theory of Mind does exist as it enables people to work out other peoples' motivations so they can get then on-side and manipulate them. Conflict between groups is natural as all humans are competing for resources all the time. It's therefore non-conflict that's the anomaly in my opinion.