Maybe You Are A Happy Chondria Patient, Too?

Editor-in-chief Ahn So-hyun

prevoyage@naver.com

Have you ever heard of the term 'hypochondria'? These days, more and more people are suffering from excessive anxiety, even if they are not in a very good condition. It is advisable to pay attention to and manage your health, but being anxious and obsessed with health after reading unfiltered medical information on various media can actually harm your health. Health anxiety is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder which makes people feel anxious and scared and think that they are more seriously ill than they really are.

I saw, by chance, Edgar Cabanasr giving a TED talk a few days ago about 'Happy Chondria,' which felt a bit like this kind of hypochondria. People have the right to be happy by themselves, but ordinary people tend to find only the parts where they are not happy and draw the conclusion that they are not happy. Cabanasr said people can escape the concept of happiness. One of the main problems people have when discussing happiness is that they cling to or become addicted to the promise of being happy. However, the promise that there is a happier and more full life is created by experts and self-development books. Such happiness never comes. It is nothing short of fraud. Goals are never achieved because they are endless processes. We end up falling into a trap and becoming addicted to these false promises.

For example, people who buy self-development books for self-realization or a happy life do not buy only one book. They buy several books. If the books really have the key to happiness, surely reading just one of them would make them happy? But that is not the case. We need to get out of this loop. You should know that this is a trap. Also, the phrase 'happiness depends on oneself' sounds very attractive. However, this is not true. On the contrary, if you are not happy, it is all your own fault. Like a hypochondriac, people with Happy Chondria think that there is something wrong with them because they are not happy enough. Happy Chondria makes people obsessed with everything that makes them feel bad, even if they are doing well.

When will we be happy? No one knows the answer. No one has ever said, 'You are already happy. So do not try to do more.' Instead of following the endless pursuit of happiness, you should be thankful for your current situation and do your best to live each day.