Could we even be happy if we’d never been sad before?

Happiness is a comparative emotion.

The measure of happiness a person feels is judged against the measure of sadness a person has felt in the past.

Without sadness, it could be said happiness has no meaning.

Let’s discuss if there could even be happiness without sadness.

Could There Be Happiness Without Sadness?

Why Is Sadness Important To Happiness?

Sadness provides significant benefits in human lives including promoting optimal performance in social judgments, memory, and motivation while allowing humans to cope with losses and life’s difficulties.

In today’s environment where happiness is greatly sought after, sadness has become a great evil to be avoided.

What Would Life Be Like Without Sadness?

If we didn’t have sadness, we may just feel nothing when something “sad” happened. But we’d also feel nothing when something “happy” happened.

Without the feeling of sadness, there would simply be nothing to compare a happy situation to.

So, it can be said they’re two sides of the same coin so to speak, philosophically and biologically.

Why Is Sadness So Powerful?

Sadness is known to be one of our strongest emotions because it signals and pulls others towards us when it’s expressed.

In other words, sadness is an emotion that can most often elicit empathy and care from others.

Why Does Sadness Seem To Last Longer Than Happiness?

Sadness is likely to be often influenced by a particular situation or trigger.

And if there’s no immediate resolution to this situation, we may continue to reflect on it or be troubled by it, resulting in a longer-lasting emotional effect.

What Causes A Person To Never Be Happy?

There are a lot of different reasons why we might feel like nothing makes us happy.

If we feel numb only to positive emotions but are still able to feel negative emotions, this is called anhedonia.

Anhedonia is a common symptom of depression and shows up in a lot of mental health conditions.

Various mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD can cause severe feelings of unhappiness, lack of motivation, and disinterest in activities that used to bring joy.

Final Thoughts

Writing this post made me appreciate the full range of emotions that we experience.

Negative emotions can be great catalysts and motivators to propel us into taking positive action in our lives.

Ironically, the fear of emotional sadness may often restrict a person’s ability to experience the high heights of happiness.

Many people may actually live their entire lives in a type of “middle zone”.

They don’t experience extreme happiness, nor do they experience extreme sadness.

All of this is pointing to why facing and accepting our negative emotions is so important to our individual happiness.

Please comment or follow the links, thanks for reading.

Sources and other reading:

Reasons Why Happiness Can’t Exist Without Sadness

How Does Age Affect Happiness

Dealing With Unhappiness

How To Deal With Disappointment

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