Five ways to make yourself happier
If you wish
we had a more ‘caring’, left-wing government than the one we’ve voted for,
there are several things you can do to make yourself happier.
These don’t
involve bemoaning your fellow citizens’ selfishness and stupidity.
Calling
people names rarely makes you feel better and doesn’t actually change anything.
And the people will still be selfish and stupid – no matter what you say.
Getting
drunk, taking drugs, watching live comedy, having orgasms or even eating
chocolate are legitimate ways of making yourself happier – but my list doesn’t
involve any of these. You can do these as well!
How good is
that?
Why not try
one of these ways to recover from 7 May 2015?
1. If you
wanted the government to raise taxes to pay for better health care, overseas
aid or any other issue you believe in, start contributing more from your pay to
charities. Either that, or wait for five years to see if we vote for a
government that will raise them. You’ll probably feel more empowered if you do
something positive now.
2. Join a
political party. A 20 year old SNP candidate who’s still doing her university
finals will be sitting in the new House of Commons, so it’s possible to follow
your political dreams.
Electoral
politics isn’t for everyone – I’ve worked for an MP and found the experience
terrifying. But you may enjoy it. Why not give it a try? You could be brilliant
at it.
And if the
mainstream political parties make you queasy, there are others like the
recently-formed Women’s Equality party. One of its founders Sandi Todsvik was
fed up of being fed up and has even given up her fantastic job on Radio 4’s
News Quiz to help establish this party.
3. Start
being nicer to people. Smile if someone smiles at you. Hold doors open – even
if the person is still 10 metres away and limping. Give your seat up on the bus
for someone who’s younger than you. Have a chat to the Big Issue seller instead
of avoiding his or her gaze. Little bits of kindness make the giver and
receiver happier. They just do.
4. Do
something really positive and of immediately huge benefit to others – like
giving blood. Giving blood is a lovely way to feel connected to your fellows –
even UKIP supporters need blood transfusions in the operating theatre.
5. Find a
cause you believe in and find fellow travellers on the road to your own
personal utopia. You’d be surprised how many groups exist for all manner of
causes and interests. Volunteer at a local hospice. Help kids with their
reading at a local school. Pick up litter for a couple of hours a day, like the
eccentric and lovely David Sedaris.
If some of
this sounds like a call to fill the gaps of an underfunded welfare state, then
ask yourself what you’re going to do to make the world better now the gaps
aren’t going to be filled by the state.
I’m as
gutted as the next person that our society is run by – and on behalf of – a
small club.
I came close
to some of its elements when I studied at David Cameron’s old Oxford college.
They’re horrendous, arrogant and the true manifestation of the ‘entitlement
culture’.
But that’s
the way things are for now. If you’re disappointed and depressed that the UK
has another Conservative government, you can bemoan it and do nothing – feeling
both alienated and impotent.
Or you can
use whatever motivation, talent and resources you have to make the world a
slightly better place today.
I know which
will make you – and others – a bit happier.
