{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Beyond Your Default","title":"Finding Happiness in Times of Hopelessness","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4002,"description":"“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert CamusI’m a big fan of data, and I’ll be honest. When I looked up the Google search trends for the term “how to just be happy,” I wasn’t terribly surprised by what I found – a marked increase over the past five to six years. Why did I choose this term specifically? Because it's one I've caught myself searching for on multiple occasions over the past few years. I decided to dig a little deeper to see how we're all doing. As it turns out, we're not doing so great. In 2022, a Gallup poll found that happiness among Americans had hit record lows. 🌶️ Spice up your inbox: Subscribe to the Beyond Your Default newsletterAt first I was surprised, but as I thought about it, the numbers made a lot of sense. We were still wrestling with the long-tail effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. I know back in 2022, I wasn't feeling so hot. I decided to keep digging, because I couldn't help but wonder if those numbers were heavily influenced by the coronavirus \"hangover\" efforts. Well, not really. Just last week, new research came out that showed the United States did not crack the top 20 happiest countries in the world for the first time ever.Why? There are a lot of reasons, in addition to what we experience as individuals in our own lives. Global events, the pandemic (still), a lack of optimism about the future, increased polarization in politics, and a marked rise in loneliness – particularly among younger generations who have grown up in remote education and work environments. I could go on. ⚡ Go Deeper: What does it really mean to possess a healthy growth mindset?Which is why today's conversation is probably the first of many episodes tackling the idea of happiness. What is it really? Why does it feel so out of reach more than ever? What can we learn from each other? Where do we honor our emotions while also working toward...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/fzZn9XhBUzA18it7_m76tStf-fGAgLyA6P_A27igPRI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS85YjM0/MmM2ZmQ2YTdlZGY2/ZTQ1YzNhZDcyYjQ4/MTY5YS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}