Fake happiness is never good. However, there may be instances when you may need to pretend to be happy. It could be because you want to avoid hurting someone, or it’s a part of your job, or you want to fit in in a new environment. Whatever the case may be, just make sure you don’t end up fooling yourself into thinking you’re happy when you’re actually not. Here are six compelling reasons why you shouldn’t fake your happiness:
1. You’re eventually going to hurt the people you’ve lied to
Pretending to be happy may work for a short period of time. But the longer it drags on, the more you convince people you are indeed happy. But what happens when the truth finally comes out? They’re going to feel utterly disappointed, destroyed even, especially if they genuinely cared about your well-being. They’d feel like they’ve wasted their time and effort trying to make you happy, only to find out you’ve been faking it this whole time. If you’re trying to build long-lasting relationships, don’t lie.
2. You’re going to turn it into a bad habit
When you routinely fool yourself and others into thinking you’re happy, then chances are you could be turning your fakery into a bad habit. It’s like putting a wall of fake happiness between you and others. They think they know you, but the sad truth is, they don’t.
3. You’ll start resenting genuinely happy people
The more you see genuinely happy people, the more you realize how effortless and natural their happiness is. You, on the other hand, have to put on an entire persona to look happy. You’ll start questioning why they have it easier than you do, and that’s just not a nice thing to be doing.
4. You’re not going to grow as a person
When you’re boxing yourself into a corner by hiding your true feelings, you’re not going to grow. And by grow, I mean, developing positive habits and generally, improving yourself.
5. You’re going to end up physically sick
You can actually become physically ill when you force yourself to act happy. Putting on a fake happy persona can take its toll on you and increase your stress levels. You’d eventually become tired of it all.
In 2006, researchers from the University of Frankfurt am Main asked 80 student subjects to pose as customer service representatives. Half were allowed to verbally defend themselves against rude customers, while the other half were required to be friendly no matter what. Monitoring showed that the group that was required to fake friendliness saw a greatly increased heart rate, even after their “shift” was complete. The other group experienced only a slight increase.
Previous research from the University involving interviews of 4,000 actual customer service workers showed similar effects. The study showed that being forced to pretend to be happy over long periods of time affected health.
6. You’re going to hurt yourself
Lying to yourself can do that to you. You’re not just hurting yourself emotionally, but also mentally and physically. You can only take so much abuse. Get your act together and seek the true happiness that you deserve.