What it takes to see the positive

“Blessed is he who forgets what can no longer be changed”, a quote from “Fledermaus”. Johann Strauss’s (1825-1899) operetta is traditionally performed on New Year’s Eve in venues such as the Vienna State Opera.

This year, this call for repression sounds cynical, because people not far from us are tangibly threatened by something that cannot be ignored in the blink of an eye: war. Except for the fact that we are not immune to its consequences. Keywords: energy crisis, inflation, rising prices.

Some normalcy is back on February 3rd

Still, the past twelve months have been positive for most of us. The year 2022 has been a year in which the worst of the pandemic is over for now. As of February 3, quarantine and working from home are no longer required. Some normalcy is back.

Also for the Swiss we played in our “Happy Ending” series at the end of the year. For example, the musician couple from Wisen SO will finally be able to perform in front of a large audience again. By the way, this year they got married, had children, moved to a newly built house and released an album together. Or Christian Klinner (50), an entrepreneur from Zurich, who fell seriously ill due to Corona and is still finishing a book project this year that he had put off for twenty years.

Regret is not the solution

“Our lives must go on,” says Ulrike Ehlert, 62, a psychology professor at the University of Zurich. While it is sometimes difficult when there is so much pain: “Most people get upset when others are worse off than they are. A so-called cognitive dissonance develops.”

Ehlert says guilt doesn’t help anyone. “A healthier response would be to value your own happiness more because it’s not something you can take lightly.”

How long does happiness last?

Happiness researcher Reto Odermatt (38) from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Basel comes to similar conclusions. For one study, he and a colleague explored the question of how long significant life events affect the satisfaction of those affected. To do this, he used a survey of more than 30,000 people in Germany.

Odermatt says the result is simply stated: “Happiness has a shorter expiration date than most of us believe.” For example, newlyweds exaggerate how happy they will be in five years. “However, if you know that happiness doesn’t last forever, maybe you can enjoy it more.”