What’s your definition of happiness?
In the early 1900s, a wave of thinkers began to argue that happiness was not something handed down by society or circumstance but something you could declare for yourself. Philosophers like Nietzsche and Simmel believed that by affirming life — even in the face of hardship — a person could resist despair. This idea of “proclaimed happiness” gave people a sense of agency during a time of industrial change and social unrest, when many felt powerless.
As the century moved forward, the idea spread into psychology and culture. Existentialists like Sartre and Camus insisted that meaning and joy had to be created by the individual, while humanistic psychologists such as Maslow and Rogers echoed the same message in America. By the late 1900s, positive psychology turned this into practical tools: gratitude, optimism, and affirmations became ways to “choose happiness.” The concept even spilled into popular culture, with self-help movements and motivational slogans carrying the same spirit.
But the story did not end on a high note. Critics began to argue that simply declaring happiness ignored deeper struggles like poverty, trauma, or inequality. By the late 20th century, the idea was often dismissed as “toxic positivity,” a shallow insistence on cheerfulness that silenced real pain. Today, the legacy of proclaimed happiness still shapes wellbeing practices, but it is balanced with the recognition that true happiness requires both inner affirmation and external conditions.
In case you don’t understand the story, the concept of happiness was introduced as a factor that happiness comes from within and not from external conditions or environmental influence. I’m very sure you’d have seen, heard or even tried; “Look yourself in the mirror and proclaim ‘I am a happy person’ motivation” But my question is; does a truly happy person need to affirm or claim happiness by simply trying to word-convince themselves? I honestly don’t think so. I strongly believe happiness should be genuine. When you’re happy, you just know yourself. You don’t need to stand in front of a mirror deceiving yourself about it at all.
So what’s my point? First spend time figuring out what’s robbing you of happiness. The problem with the mirror thing is it forces you to ignore problems, but that’s the catch. Ignoring your problems simply because you want to temporarily feel happy doesn’t give you happiness, truly solving the problem does. So identify the problem, face it squarely, work on solving it or at least start the journey of getting it solved and believe me, you don’t need any forced motivation to make you happy.
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