22

That number, 22, its everywhere I look!  It started early this week when my daughter asked me to download the Taylor Swift song 22 for her, and I can't get that tune out of my head.  Then the second episode of 22ness came along, £22K, the magic number.

Its magic because earn less than £22K you're miserable. Earn more than £22K you're miserable. £22K is the magic happy salary.

I have touched on the past on money and happiness, money does buy happiness and comforts, but more money after a certain point does not.  You need to earn something to tick your world around, but too much  money makes you materialistic and miserable. Money does not buy happiness.

This was further reiterated for me studying the Danish, the so called happy people.  They stick to the £22K limit. If you happen to get promoted, or get a better job, you cut your hours to stick to the £22K.  I was taken aback by this, is this where I am going wrong? Do I need to work less to be happier and accept a pay cut?  I am still in two minds, I don't think £22K is enough to live on, or is it?

The Slippery Slope

Yes... my next few blogs are all going to be doom and gloom, some harsh realities about happiness. Last blog I touched on genetics, how you may actually be genetically incapable of being happy, there are real genes out there that are associated with happiness. This blog, lets face it, happiness is on the decline.

Life has gotten easier. Tasks that took us a whole day 50 years ago, now take us an hour at most. Think of the laundry, communicating with people, technology has enabled us to make things faster and quicker with little input from us.  Communication is key to happiness, friends and family makes us happy. Right now, I am sitting at the gymnasium waiting for my daughter to finish her gym class. Every single parent, albeit two (who are actually talking to each other) is plugged into an electronic devise of some sort. Including me.  But our addictions to WhatsApp and Facebook aren't making us happy, studies are all there to prove it.  We are becoming more and more miserable as a nation. You don't need the studies, ask any GP what they see coming into their surgeries. Depression is on the increase, more and more people are pill popping to keep them in some sort of meta-happy state.  Although life is technically easier, its not.

Never ever has more ever been expected from us as individuals and collectively as a society. Our every minutes have to be filled with some task. Yes, I have a spare 5 minutes, lets respond to emails, let me do my Sainsburys shopping, let me order a new door handle....  The definition of success:  money and power no longer works for us. Its exhausting us and making us more and more unhappy.  Who defined this success anyway? We all fight it amongst ourselves for the next promotion and the next better paid job. I am a complex being, surely my success is based on so much more than my work?


I have no solutions. I am still figuring this out for myself. But sometimes we need to slow down and almost stop. I am a hypocrite, I never slow down and never stop. Like one student once said to me "I'll rest when I die". But the problem is, if I don't rest, that route to death is going to be a very painful one.

Money Happy

I am thrilled when I do my searches that so many people have taken a scientific approach to happiness. Not bloggers ofcourse, but there is much research where how happy you are (a relative term) actually has been given a figure and value. 

So its to science I turn when I want to figure out, does money make us happy? The earthy ones among you will say no, the materialistic of you will say yes. My feelings are mixed.  In Gretchen Rubins book, The Happiness Project she says yes, money makes you happy. Only because it allows you to occasionally treat yourself and that adds to happiness.

I've often wondered this. I know I am not poor, but I don't really want more money. I do think I get to do all the things I love on the money I am on - travel, hobbies, going out, visiting family/friends. And although I can be a bit frugal with money, I just think thats who I am, having more money won't change that - I will just end up saving more.

In PNAS there was an article published on income and happiness. When the wealth of a nation increases, the happiness does not.  This can be seen with Latin American and Eastern European countries where happiness did not improve when these countries came out of poverty.  I don't think the article addressed other apsects of peoples lives that measure happiness. Although I cannot comment on these countries, I know in Iraq, the country of my roots and where I have had the opportunity to speak to a variety of people in, the increased wealth of the nation post US led invasion did not lead to happiness because it increased the instability of the country.  Personally, I know people are happier that they are wealthier and they don't need to worry about their next meal, but I think peoples happiness are more complex than a linear measure of money vs how happy people say they are on a survey.

It was only when I came to read another article that I thought it made more sense. Money is relative. If you feel that you are earning more than your peers than you tend to feel happier. If you feel that you are earning less than your peers, you are unhappy.  Its easy to say to people not to compare yourself we do, but we all unconsciously do so. 

Does money buy happiness?  I agree with Gretchen Rubin, it buys you treats - when used occasionally bring little bouts of happiness. However, more wealth isn't necessarily going to make you happier. If you are miserable about how much money you take home every month, getting more isn't going to make you happier, because it all depends who you are comparing yourself to.  If I were you, I'd start making friends with people who earn less than you, that might make you feel happier :-)