Relationships and Happiness

Identity and Love
    When it comes to love, people never know who they’re going to fall in love with. The concept of love can happen at any moment with anyone regardless of color, religion, culture etc. Their differences can help them learn more about each other and the similarities helps them unite together. For example, I am Mexican and I fell in love with a Bengali, to me it doesn’t matter where he's from. I don’t care that he’s a slight shade darker than I am, nor do I care about his religious beliefs that differ from mine. Love isn't planned and “identity” doesn’t matter as long as the couple is happy. Another example is two women falling in love with each other. It’s who they are and they’re happy with it. Love isn’t limited and shouldn’t be, if they are committed to one another it will bring them happiness and who are we to stop them from being happy? Identity makes the relationship flourish and helps people learn about other things.

Spending More Time With Loved Ones
    Spending more time with loved ones can help increase happiness and lower stress levels. When I spend time with my family or my boyfriend I feel cared for and I feel no worries. I enjoy bonding with my family members because they make me laugh and forget the stressful things happening in my life. Spending more time with loved ones also creates a stronger connection between us. I like being there for my family members when they need me and I like when they support me in everything I do and I like to do the same in return. Building connections with loved ones help the person grow and become happier to have spent time with people they love. I’m happy around people I love because I feel comfortable with them and I don’t have to pretend to be something I am not to impress them. Being able to feel comfortable around people I love brings me happiness and comfort.

Sacrifice vs. Sharing
     In Tal-Ben Shahar’s book “Happier” he explains the difference between sacrifice and sharing. Sacrifice is giving something up that makes you happy while sharing is doing something that will make both people in the relationship happy. For example, giving up quality time with family and moving away because your husband found a new job somewhere else. The person is sacrificing family to make the other person happy. An example of sharing would be like Tal- Ben Shahar explained, a woman taking a week off from work to help her husband instead of quitting the job she loves. Sharing, would make the relationship grow stronger because both people are happy. There’s an ultimate difference between the two terms, sacrifice is officially giving something up that makes you happy while sharing is only temporarily giving something up. Both show however how one loves the their significant other.