Commentary
When it comes to TV shows, they really don’t make them like they used to. Today, finding a new TV series actually worth watching is incredibly difficult. Sure, we have unlimited options, but many of these options are, for lack of a better description, thoroughly underwhelming.
All hope is not lost, however. Rainn Wilson, otherwise known as Dwight from “The Office,” has a new show, and it’s very good. Based on Eric Weiner’s bestselling book of the same name, “Geography of Bliss” sees the self-confessed grump map the path to happiness. In the pursuit of pleasure, Wilson visits Bulgaria, Ghana, Iceland, and Thailand. Interestingly, though, Wilson doesn’t make a trip to Finland, supposedly the happiest country in the world. I found this odd. On closer inspection, though, Wilson’s decision not to visit Finland makes perfect sense. It’s really not a happy place. In truth, we have been sold a lie.
Rather incredibly, for six years straight, the Nordic nation has been named the happiest country in the world. But, as many readers know only too well, appearances can be mightily deceptive. Behind the glitzy headlines lie a number of incredibly dark truths.
Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Of the 44 countries in Europe, it’s the one with the highest proportion of under 25s dying from drug overdoses—almost 30 percent in 2022. On average, Finnish drug users die 10 years younger than users in other EU countries.
An increasing number of Finns are suffering from depression and anxiety. Considering the country is plunged into darkness for four months every year, and a lack of sunlight is strongly correlated with poor mental health, is it any wonder that so many Finns struggle with serious mental health problems? Which begs the question: How can Finland be considered a happy place, let alone the happiest country in the world?
The Myth of Endless Happiness
Happiness is an emotion, one of many we have each day. Like indigestion and flatulence, it’s something that comes and goes. In fact, the average human being has more than 400 emotional experiences every single day.Contrary to popular belief, the World Happiness Report, the publication responsible for ranking national happiness scores, doesn’t actually measure happiness. How could it? Happiness, like all emotions, is here one moment, gone the next. Instead, the report, commissioned by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, analyzes global survey data from citizens in more than 150 countries. Based on their life evaluations, countries are then ranked on “happiness.”
In reality, what’s really being measured is something closer to well-being or satisfaction. As the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman has noted, the difference between happiness and satisfaction goes way beyond semantics. The former is nothing more than a transient experience, one that occurs spontaneously. You meet a dear friend you haven’t seen for months at a local cafe, and you instantly feel happy. However, once the friend leaves, the happiness may be replaced by another emotion—like sadness, for instance.
Satisfaction, on the other hand, is a more permanent state of mind. It isn’t an emotion. It’s something far more solid, a continuous feeling that’s built over many weeks, days, months, even years. Satisfaction is like a beautiful garden. To maintain the beauty, the garden must be cared for, constantly and consciously. If people are satisfied with their lives, then, more than likely, they’re satisfied with their current financial situation, their love life, their network of friends, their employment situation, neighborhood, etc. In short, life is pretty good.
This brings us back to the people of Finland. For the average Finn, life is good simply because their expectations are realistic. Many have benefited tremendously from the happiness hustle, with authors selling books encouraging us to think ourselves happy, and numerous influential speakers lecturing the masses on the possibility of perpetual happiness.
It makes sense. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Although we should all strive to be happy more of the time, satisfaction, more than anything else, is the key ingredient to a truly wonderful life. The Finns would agree.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
