Betas, why are Americans unhappy?

[Park]

I am not a beta but my guess would be, most people have certain ideals, dreams, aspirations, whatever you wish to call them, and after a certain point these aspirations become confused or lost... tangled up like an unorganized computer network.

Eventually this yeilds to the demands of their current reality or circumstances, they need to work a job, be connected to people, and so forth so eventually they find themselves putting energy into this instead of untangled the metaphorical cords in order to pursue their happiness.

This becomes like something they leave in their closet while they deal with the norms of life, going to work, interacting with people, etc.....

Eventually the mess grows and grows and gets more tangled, and people are left with a general feeling of confusion about their life and their sanity in life. They build resentment to the system, to authority, to whatever.... but in my honest opinion half the people are confused.... they just want to rebel, but they don't have a cause, a goal, an ideal for themselves..... it just gets bad for people and they are confused and feel like they have to rebel for sanities sake first.

Right on the money.

I haven't noticed most people seeming unhappy. If they are, it could be from a sense of powerlessness. They feel unable to enact change in their own lives or make anything better and that depresses them. They feel like they can't do anything, and nobody is listening, and nothing they do gets them anywhere. People in 3rd world countries get depressed for the same reason - they can't change anything, no matter how hard they work or how fast they run, they're still on the same treadmill.

The cure for that kind of unhappiness is to find something that you can change. Something that you can take in your hands and make better through your own effort. Getting that foothold, where they have control can lead to great confidence in themselves to make another and greater change.

Consider the kinds of risks people will take to have any small gain in independence and self-direction. It's human nature to want to run things. At least for yourself and your own life. Having that responsibility, and wanting it, and enjoying being responsible for your own life and decisions is the only way to be happy. Blaming other people, or the culture, the system, whatever your favorite object of blame is, takes away the very responsibility you need to climb out of whatever hole or trap you see yourself in.

I like this, too. And I relate to the powerlessness-stemming unhappiness.