Feeling Depressed? This May Be the Thing You Need to Feel Happier (Hint: It’s Not Money)
Glamour:
If someone handed you a big pile of cash right this second, would you be happy? OK, I admit, I would hardly be weeping into my breakfast if this happened to me–but bear with my entirely-hypothetical example for a second, because a new study is showing that money doesn’t actually seem to make people happier at all. But this does…
It’s respect (Aretha had it right all along!). According to a study in the journal Psychological Science, being respected and admired by your peers and colleagues will give you a greater feeling of happiness than having wealth or a higher socioeconomic status.
Study researcher Cameron Anderson, a psychological scientist at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, said: “One of the reasons why money doesn’t buy happiness is that people quickly adapt to the new level of income or wealth. Lottery winners, for example, are initially happy but then return to their original level of happiness quickly.”
Read the whole story: Glamour
Comments
I enjoyed this piece. I feel like the media and society dictate the notion that money is everything. It’s nice to be able to pay bills and not have to worry. Other than that I can get what the wealthy have by thriftiness and finding things at the right prices. It’s more like I want something rather than saying I need it. Of course I want nice things like everyone but I don’t need nice things. If it comes my way at a poor mans price I’ll get it, ha. Everywhere we look the media tells us what is beautiful and popular and it’s merely a man made concept. An advertiser, and I go off of documentaries here, can tell the world that our ear lobes need ointment and all of a sudden a product becomes normal and an issue is created to make money. It’s quite a vicious cycle. I recently opened a small business and on top of my student loans I have an extremely small margin of error. I have been open two months now and absolutely dread the feelings of making money and at the end of the month being zero. One slip can cost me a lot in this situation but I rely on my higher power and e program of A.A. To keep my mind right, ha! But nonetheless I came across this piece after searching some relief of others worrying about money. At one point I was having panic attacks but it slowly has gone away. I guess in a nutshell that through prayer and meditation I can help clear my mind of the sub conscious direction toward what the media tells me I should be looking at!
APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.
Please login with your APS account to comment.