happiness

As some of you know, I love a great deal. I don't love shopping much, but when you can get a great deal on something, I actually like shopping quite a bit. Yesterday I went to Old Navy because they were having 75% off their winter clothes. We don't need winter clothes right now, but I figured I could get a couple of items for the kids next year and maybe a sweater for myself.

I bumped into a friend, Jennifer, who is the savviest shopper I know. She always seems to find great deals on everything. I saw her with a shopping cart overloaded with clothes. I had to laugh when I saw how many clothes she had. Little did I know, I would end up with a cart overflowing with clothes too. I even had things hanging on hangers off the sides. It was pathetic. In the end, I spent a lot of money, but honestly I couldn't pass up these deals. I got seven pairs of pants for Breanna to wear next year for 5$ each. Shirts for the kids were $2.50-$3.50 each. PJ's were $3. I got a coat for $8.50 (which was by far the most expensive item) . Gloves and hats were only $1.

So I felt my shopping trip was a success. I was beaming as I was telling Jason about my deals later that day. I told him that I knew shopping couldn't buy happiness, but I sure felt happy right then.

Well then later last night I was watching 20/20. It was a show on happiness. It talked about what made people happy. They did studies and surveys about people all over the world and found out what made people happy. Surprise, surprise, shopping and having money DID NOT make people happy. As a matter of fact, money really made no difference in people's happiness. Now poverty made people unhappy, but people who weren't in poverty could find equal happiness at any income level.

My favorite part of the program was when they talked about the happiest people in the world. The country with the happiest people they found was DENMARK! Even with very high taxes and rainy weather, they found that Danes are very happy people. What makes them happy? They found that they have a strong sense of community and culture. Danes are very unmaterialistic people and they aren't bothered by keeping up with the Jones'. They ride their bikes everywhere even though they could afford nice cars. They have a sense of trust, where they don't worry about people stealing or committing crimes. They pick their careers based on what they really want to do rather than what makes the most money or is the most prestigious(doctors apparently don't make a lot more than a garbage man).

Now my brother Brian and his family live in Denmark (my brother is the only American in his family). I don't know if he would agree with all of this, but what I have observed of Brian and Karen, they are very much like what I described. I really liked watching this and I must say there was some envy on my part. How nice it would be not to worry about all the things we Americans worry about (money, house size, clothes, cars, etc). By the way, America came in as the 23rd happiest country. We obviously have some work to do.

So my basic thought on this whole thing is that shopping really can't make me happy, it just puts a smile on my face every once in a while.