Happiness or happy-less
Being happy for 100 days straight. Sounds easy, right? Think again.
Can you remember the last time someone asked you if you were happy? How about the last time you consciously took time out of your day to do something just because it made you happy?
In the hustle of high school, it’s easy to get consumed with school work, extracurricular activities, test scores, college applications, sports and everything else that consumes our lives. We often forget to stop and smell the roses.
The 100HappyDays Foundation, “a foundation that makes the world happier”, is trying to change that.
The foundation firmly believes that in our society people are proud of their overwhelming, busy schedules and as a result of that, they aren’t taking the time to enjoy the little moments in life.
The campaign has challenged people of all ages across the world to do something every day for 100 days that makes them happy.
Juniors Julianne Pellizzon and Riley Beeler accepted this challenge and have seen its impact in their everyday lives.
“This project has absolutely made me happier,” Beeler said. “Now it has just become a habit for me to look for happiness in everything around me.”
It isn’t just their lives that have been affected either. The movement has even affected Pellizzon and Beeler’s friends.
“Our friends have loved it,” Pellizzon said. “I know I started it because of Riley, so I hope other people see us doing this and want to try it too.”
100HappyDays certainly isn’t just here at SMCHS. Since it started, 100HappyDays has reached 98 percent of the world and has created over 20 million happy moments.
However, despite this success of individual happy moments, 71 percent of participants failed to be happy for the full 100 days, saying that they were simply “didn’t have time to be happy.”
Though she thought the success rate would be far higher, junior Lauren Walker can relate to the 71 percent of people who failed.
“That percentage is shocking, but I get it,” Walker said. “I have so much going on in my life, and stress begins to take over. I no longer have the time to relax after school. I have to start homework right away. To be completely honest, I couldn’t tell you the last time I took time to just relax and de-stress.”
People’s failure to be happy tells us a lot about the demanding society we live in.
“Colleges love to see involved and studious students meaning you have to be involved in honors classes, sports, after school activities, volunteering and so many other things that quickly become too much to handle,” Walker said.
However, successfully being happy for 100 days is far from impossible. Both Pellizzon and Beeler were shocked that so many people failed and think that when you take time to appreciate the little things in life, happiness is inevitable.
“I know I just posted a picture of a sunset, and that’s something you wouldn’t normally appreciate,” said Pellizzon. “But, because of [100HappyDays] I have definitely found happiness in little everyday things.”
