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Your Culture Affects Your Happiness
Does the country you’re living in make a difference in how happy you are? The answer is…yes, absolutely! Each year, The United Nations comes out with the World Happiness Index. While reviewing these lists that so neatly place countries into their respective ranks of having the happiest citizens, I’ve often wondered what it is that makes certain countries so much more enjoyable than the places where I grew up. What makes their people happier than me? Can I adopt their rituals into my life and have the same effect?
The two countries I’ve lived in are the United States and France. Before moving to France, I didn’t think that French and American cultures were all that different. Boy, was I wrong! Their outlook on life, habits, and even the ways of expressing feelings and excitement are drastically different. In fact, at times, both cultures have polar opposite values. And although they both have excellent standards of living, surprisingly, they have pretty bad scores on the World Happiness Index. Certainly, both have outstanding credentials in regards to what we’d assume we’d need to be a happy country. Yet, when we dig a little deeper, it’s clear to see that happiness is characterized by more than just being financially fulfilled citizens.
