Can We Just Stop it With the Happiness Mandate?

Maybe it's because I'm feeling guilty that I've parked my 10 year old in front of Roblox so I can catch up on work emails on a Sunday morning (my sacred down time!) or perhaps it's the freezing-rain dreary February weather, but I have had it up to here with the happiness mandate. 

My news feed blew up this week on the subject of happiness. The most popular class at Yale? Happiness. Great. Good on ya kids, that'll prepare you for real life. Want to know the scientific formula for happiness? Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has it allll figured out. I can't get through a Facebook scroll without Gretchen Rubin, whose books I greatly enjoy, sharing a 30 second video on how to do better at happiness. 

Recently I sat down with Lisa Roepe, one of my favorite journalists, who was working on a story about happiness project groups. Like a book club, the idea here is that folks come together and hold each other accountable for their happiness goals. The whole concept just didn't compute. I tried to imagine telling my husband, "hey, you've got to finish the chemistry homework oversight and pack lunches, I'm headed out to happiness club!" 

Look people, life is messy and complicated and sometimes it just isn't going to be fun. Only YOU know what makes you happy, and you can't expect others to hold you accountable for that. To the greatest extent possible, do more of what makes you happy and less of what doesn't. You don't need a group for that.