Illustration by Caitlyn and Alaniya.

Source: Hemisphere Restaurant & Bar.

Firstly, what is happiness?

What makes you feel content? Photo: Tsang Ching Nam, Model: Chelsie Mak.

“Spending time with people who I vibe with. Sounds cliché, but it's the good laughs and special bonding that make me happy.”

Tiffany: “It's that peace of knowing that you are secure in your relationships, friendships and having an appreciation for the life you have.”

ABJ: “Having someone / a group of people who you can call home.”

“Sometimes happiness may be a curse because you never know when you’ll cry again. Happiness is temporary; it won’t last long because life is all about dealing with ups and downs and it may not be like how we want it to be. To be happy, we need to be present in the moment by taking risks, because it is what makes us feel so alive.”

“Like a fun conversation with a friend, reading a good story, winning something you worked for or finding a cat sleeping by your window sill. Happiness isn’t necessarily in just the little things but literally anything that makes me go: “This is something that I’d like to have again.”

Is happiness a state of mind?

“Happiness can be a real state of mind and being that’s brought on by simply choosing to be happy. Being truly happy doesn't mean waiting around or hinging your hopes on something to come along and bring joy to your life. It means taking the time to realize that you’re going to have to create happiness for yourself.”

“Our brains create chemicals and sometimes it manipulates our thinking. We rely on people for our happiness but actually, it comes from within. Happiness can’t be described because it happens gradually. It can be classified as a natural event.”

“If a person is truly happy and satisfied with life, they will not let emotions sway their happiness or outlook on life. Arguably, ‘happy’ is an emotion, so you can say that it is a state of mind.”

“If happiness was a state of mind, then I'm sure everyone else would choose to be happy. Who would voluntarily want to be unhappy?”

It's funny how laughter isn't its own language, though we carry an innate proficiency of speaking it at the right moment. Photo: Tsang Ching Nam, Model: Teacher Liew.

What role does happiness play in being successful?

Anna: “I personally think it's one of the deciding factors whether one is successful or not. I believe that happiness is something that success comes with, and if you are not happy, you have not yet achieved true success. I say this because happiness is something that makes being successful worth it. I do think that without happiness, the journey or progress to reach success is not possible. Happiness is what makes one look forward to something.”

Angelo: “Happiness leads to higher productivity, higher profits, and higher success rates. In other words, rather than becoming happy after a certain milestone is reached, happiness contributes more to success than the other way around.”

Sage: “Happiness plays a very pertinent role in being successful, mainly because happiness and success are strictly dependent on each person so each person's version of happiness and success might not be the same as the next. So, to me, happiness plays the role of completing a person's sense of fulfilment along with achieving success.”

“I think when someone brings happiness to the table, it’s charismatic. Raising morale for not just your team but yourself. If you can enjoy the work you’re doing, you can work harder and better too, so the road to success becomes easier to bear.”

NBD: “Yes, I believe in order to succeed you have to sacrifice a few things.”

Sage: “I believe that people should work hard first and go through all the things that life can throw at us and live through all of the mistakes so that later on, when we do reach our goals and finally embrace the feeling of happiness, it'll be because we have earned the right to be happy and made it past all of the obstacles thrown at us.”

Teoh: “Happiness sometimes feels like something you have to work for, as if you have to exchange something else to get it, like hard work and sacrifice. And while that is true in some cases, I know it’s unhealthy to think of happiness like that all the time, because it will eventually turn bitter and destroy your health. It’s better to keep a balance between working for the future and working for the present, so that you can always keep a balance between misery and happiness in life too.”

Anna: “I believe that as a youth, when you work/study hard, the whole process of it doesn't necessarily mean you need to be miserable now in order to be happy later. Why not be happy in both? You can always work/study hard and be happy now, and also be happy later on.”

Tiffany: “NO. Because why be happy later when you can be happy NOW? I'd rather find the little things in life right now to be happy about, the relationships I have, friends and peers—all of it. Life is too short to waste any of it on being miserable.”

Happiness in the midst of a pandemic

Teoh: “When my friend visited me at the hospital. She had gone out of her way to visit me when the hospital was far from her house. I’ve never had any friends as close as her so experiencing that for the first time made me ridiculously happy. Haha. Be grateful for friends.”

Mia: “Actually these little moments when I’m talking to my friends through zoom calls and when my parents came home bringing frozen nuggets or even hash browns. Also during a birthday celebration, watching movies virtually with friends through discord.”

Tiffany: “Movies. Books. They provide me with much-needed escapism while staying at home. Uplifting moments—I guess it would be the small kind gestures that I receive. A friend sending me cute animal videos, someone complimenting my work, etc.”

Sometimes, you never know whether a small act you contributed would make a big impact to someone else. Photo by Tsang Ching Nam.

If you’re struggling to be happy...

Teoh: “Let sunshine into your room and open the windows every once in a while. When it’s not too hot, just sit near there and observe how the light bounces off the different textures in your room. Looking at plants is a nice thing to do. Finger painting is nice also. Clean something. Avoid social media.”

Mia: “For those who are struggling to find happiness, I pray that you will find it within yourselves because happiness is a feeling of contentment and actually, it’s just the chemicals. We will all die soon eventually. Do something that is worth your time. If there’s a person called happiness, don’t chase after that person. Happiness is something inevitable, it will eventually find you.”

Mikey: “Well if you struggle to find happiness, find something that you want to do. Try something new, do something crazy, don't hold back on everything because we just have one life and life is precious. Just remember to live life to the fullest.”

Car: “We tend to only remember the bad things happening and filter out the little good things happening in our life. Write down all the little happiness and lucky things happened to you. It can be as simple as ‘Hey I cooked a perfect egg today’ or ‘Luckily I brought my umbrella before going out’.”

Sage: “It’s more than okay to feel sad or angry or literally any other emotion aside from happiness. To be happy, you need to confront your other feelings as well to eliminate them so that you can feel a sense of peace. Take all the time in the world and keep in mind that happiness is a journey, not instantaneous.”

Anyone is eligible to specialize in pure joy. Photo: Tsang Ching Nam, Model: Teacher Han.