Ask Sam letter

Hi there,

That is a really interesting question.

Happiness is a lovely feeling and it means different things for different people. A good way to start to think about it is to try and imagine what would make you sad if you didn’t have it. These can be some of the things that make you happy. They are usually the things that you treasure the most.

Lots of different things might make us happy, like spending time with friends and family, experiences like holidays, music and hobbies, and material things like mobile phones and clothes. Happiness is not about having everything that you want, but enjoying what you do have.

You could also think about what really matters to you in life. Look at the big picture and see if there are things that perhaps don’t matter so much. Focusing on the things that matter and not worrying about things out of your control can lead to a greater sense of happiness.

It’s important to remember that nobody can be happy all the time. Life has its ups and downs. If you try to be constantly happy you will end up feeling disappointed. But realising what things make you happy can help comfort you when times are hard. If things do get hard and you ever want to talk to a ChildLine counsellor about anything, we are here for you.

I hope this has helped to answer your question. Maybe you could think about making a post on the message boards about this. It would be really interesting to see what types of things make you and other young people who use the ChildLine website happy. I think sharing these thoughts could help to spread a little happiness!

Take care,
Sam