Happiness And Negative Emotions

Most people strive to be happy in life, you never hear of someone striving to feel sad or fearful. However, people that experience negative emotions, such as sadness, but not to the extreme of depression, are motivated to improve themselves. Sadness is a temporary feeling, unlike depression, which is more of an illness one may have. If one has never been exposed to a sad experience they will not know how it truly feels to be happy. Other emotions such as sadness, fear, and anger are just as important in life as happiness because too much happiness can cause a lack of encouragement and risky behavior. People often believe happiness is the most important emotion, but negative emotions are just as important because these negative emotions help motivate people, they are human, and they can affect the way one reacts in a negative situation.

Negative emotions can be a source of motivation for one to try harder in their everyday life. If someone is happy and content with the way their life is going, they will not put forth the effort to grow and progress. In Sharon Begley’s article “Happiness: Enough Already,” Begley implies that it is

If a person never felt afraid or scared they would never know how to react if they were in a situation where emotions, besides happiness, would be portrayed. Once again, Begley says, “Fear tips us off for the presence of danger” (456). One can be oblivious or unaware of danger’s presence if they have never been in a negative situation where emotions such as sadness and fear were present. In the article, “Don’t Worry Be Gloomy” by Susan David, she claims “when we’re overly cheerful, we tend to neglect important threats and dangers” (124). David is implying that whenever we are cheerful all of the time we may seem to oversee “threats and dangers” that go on around us. The world is full of danger and threats that one must be aware