Dave Martin

I wrote about this quote the other day (still don’t know who said it though):

What is Happiness? It’s the moment right before you need more happiness.

And in People Places Things, Jemaine Clement’s character gets asked by his ex-wife:

Are you happy?

His reply:

Happiness is not a sustainable condition. 

And I agree. Happiness is fanciful, head in the clouds, mega-annoying chasing after unicorns kind of shit. It’s this. And it’s unrealistic to think you can be it 24/7. To be this:

It’s chasing unicorns and hoping that when you find one, everything will be ok. But once you find that unicorn, and after the initial thrill of being like ‘Fuck yeah. I’m riding a unicorn, how fucking great is this’ dies down, you then want to find more unicorns to ride. And you won’t be happy until you do.

That’s why happiness is not sustainable –but fuck it, it doesn’t matter. Because contentment is.

Happiness is always wanting more. So in turn, if happiness comes from wanting more, whatever the opposite of happiness is, results from not getting it, and the periods in between.

Contentment on the other hand is feeling complete with what you have. It’s stable, resilient, and can handle the bad while appreciating the good (without tying your emotional balance to it). And it’s also knowing that even if you have less than you have now, everything will still be okay, you’ll still be at peace with yourself and everyone in your life and still be able to maintain a tranquil mind.

That is a sustainable condition.