How to Be Happy When the World Makes You Depressed

Listener Lynne wrote in and asked “how to find happiness—or at least comfort—in a world that is fundamentally broken in so many ways.” She writes, “I cannot help but be sad to think about things like plastics in the ocean, wildfires in the west, caravans of refugees about to be met with military force, and the extermination of the Rohinga. I have frequent reminders to be thankful for all I have...Nonetheless, I am often unhappy because of the many ways that humans are unkind to each other and to our planet.”

Lynne’s problem isn’t unique. When the headlines start to blend suspiciously with The Handmaid’s Tale or bring to mind visions of Wall-E sorting through post-apocalyptic garbage, it’s easy to feel sad and hopeless. 

Now, much like the climate change episode from a few weeks ago, I can’t promise to fix the world in 15 minutes or less. But before you move off-grid and start brewing your own zombie repellent, let’s cover four ways to be happy when the world makes you depressed.

Tip #1: Feel what you feel, and let it spur you to action.

One of the few negative side effects of the happiness movement is the mistakenly sky-high expectation that we feel happy most, if not all of the time. But set those expectations against a backdrop where, according to a Gallup Poll, 87% of people worldwide don’t like their jobs, according to the CDC, around 40% of marriages end in divorce, and according to anyone not living under a rock, the headlines pummel us with bad news 24/7. The result? Major dissonance.

So instead of fake-smiling through the negativity, lean in to all your feelings. We’re wired for a wide range of emotions, from the peanut-butter-and-jelly of sadness, anger, and fear, to the more nuanced emotions like envy, contempt, or apprehension.

Rather than seeing emotions other than happiness as bad or wrong, mine them for their own unique powers.

Let’s take anger, for example. Anger spurs you to act. It’s like the classic bumper sticker: If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. Anger drives people to call their representatives, head to the voting booth, and otherwise bridge the gap between doing nothing and Doing Something.

Sadness, too, has its uses. Sadness is the most clear-headed emotion. It...

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