(no subject)

[unij]

Which do you guys think is worse:

To live your entire life in unhappiness, or to live the first part of your life in relative happiness, only to have it all suddenly stripped away and the rest of it be unhappy?

Comments

[aviekokyre.livejournal.com]

This is like the item tied to the soul or whatever question you once asked, huh?

There are too many factors to do a generalization, and I can't really place myself in either situation to come up with an answer for me personally. I go back and forth and don't settle on anything that remotely suggests leaning one way or the other.

[universejuice.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yeah |D

I know that there are a lot of factors into this, but I left it kind of vague because I was hoping people might try to come up with a scenario and conclusion on their own. But, to be fair, I don't have much of an answer to the question, either ^^;;

don't mind the journal

[historycodebook]

I think the circumstances that cause the person to be unhappy need to be considered. Is there nothing terribly "wrong" and the person is just unhappy, or is there something like constant war and fear going on? What all did the happy person lose and how? Riches from a stock market crash and losing everyone one loves are two different things. For both, how does the person react? Is there motivation to become happy or resigning to the unhappiness?

... Although, I keep thinking about people snapping and violence toward innocents from either situation, so that could be part of the reason for not attempting to find an "answer." It doesn't matter how long one has been unhappy or if one lost all happiness, the person needs a chance to become happy.

nor this one

[inspirethefire.livejournal.com]

One thing that comes to mind to me is the reverse situation: people did a study, asking if people would prefer to live a very unhappy life all the way through, or if they wanted to live another three years at the end of their life that was slightly less unhappy. It still wouldn't be pleasant, and it would be prolonging things... but the overwhelming majority of people still said that they would prefer that.

[bouncy-erbear.livejournal.com]

Gah, that's a doozy.

[taiga_ameca]

Unhappy all the time.

... I feel bad at the fact that I didn't even have to stop and think about it.

[historycodebook]

Hmmm.... I don't know about that study. It's interesting for sure, but it doesn't seem like a complete reversal of the question. In the study, I get the feeling that death plays a stronger role in the decision while in your question, it felt more like the focus was on quality or fulfillment of life... if that makes sense. It might be just me.

Also, what does that study suggest as an answer to this question? Does it side on unhappy for one's whole life being worse since more people would rather live three more years even if they were unhappy?

[universejuice.livejournal.com]

Well, we learned about that in my High School Psychology class as a matter of peoples' preference to easing the way out of pain rather than simply cutting it off. Like, how a lot of people had a better opinion of a painful dental treatment if the process was longer, but the pain was slowly decreased instead of just ending. I never read the actual study, I just heard about it in that class and it came to mind in regards to the question.

[historycodebook]

Woah, you had a psychology class in high school? Mine had nothing like that. And I'm the opposite on that dental thing. Yikes. ._.

[theguindo]

I think the latter is worse, because having something and losing it feels worse than never having it at all. It's like being blind all your life vs being sighted and then losing your sight - if you never know what vision's like, you can't miss it. If you never know what happiness is like, you can't miss it.

[kiaxet]

The latter is likely the worse option, I'd imagine. If you're unhappy all the time, it's the norm - you have no basis of comparison. If you have happiness and lose it, though, you'll always remember what you had and will feel the loss.

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