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Happiness New Year
Why the H word is not trite
I always thought that life wasn’t about being happy. That’s a vague term, like love. What is it? What does it mean? I know what it is to be sad. I know what it is to be angry. I know what it is to be at peace. I know what it is to be content. But happy? What is that? Is it anything? Is it important?
This year, this is my intention - to define happiness. Because it is subjective, the most I can do is define it for myself. Maybe it will resonate with you too. Maybe we can agree on definitions or share similar experiences that have made us happy.
Today, I am reflecting on a woman in front of me in line at a grocery store. There was only one cashier and the person in front of her had a lot of groceries. This woman in front of me seemed to be restless. She took a bag of chips from impulse buy selection in the cashier line, was reading it, shook her head, made a sound of disgust, then did the same with at least two other bags. She ranted about the amount of salt in it and complained about how people shouldn’t cook food with so much salt in it. Then it was her turn at the cashier. She had a plastic bottle of Perrier that she was paying with a card. I don’t know if it was EBT or some kind of bank card but it was only 55 cents. She asked if it came in a glass bottle. She told the cashier that plastic is bad for you especially if it has…