Every time I would ask a particular friend I’ll call Sam how he was, he always responded with an enthusiastic superlative, “Fabulous” “Incredible” etc. I wondered if someone could really always be that happy and, frankly, it came off as disingenous. A few years later, Sam had a nervous breakdown.
Studies are showing that too much happiness can make us unhappy. While happiness has been found to protect us from stroke, the common cold and probably a whole host of ailments,“research indicates that very high levels of positive feelings predict risk-taking behaviors, excess alcohol and drug consumption, binge eating, and may lead us to neglect threats,” according to June Gruber, a professor of psychology at Yale University.
My take on this is that if we’re too happy, we can miss social cues that make us vulnerable to performing unsuccessfully. The person who comes to mind is someone I knew approximately 10 years ago. Each time I would ask him how life is, he would respond with a superlative, “wonderful” “fabulous”, etc. He came off as insincere and not grounded. A few years ago, he failed in his business and hasn’t been able to recover.
I guess this means that we must act in a balanced way. Too much of a good thing isn’t always so good.
