Five small ways to be a lot happier

The secret to happiness is really learning to enjoy life

Madelaine Lucy Hanson
5 min readJul 17, 2024

I know some super rich people, and some famous, successful people: and most are also some of the most miserable people I’ve ever met. Grumpy, easily irritated, angry at the world, constantly underwhelmed, and depressed. I’m more convinced than ever that what is really worth doing with you life is trying to be happy. Not ridiculously wealthy, not ridiculously famous or powerful: just happy. Because when you don’t know how to be happy, no castle, hit series, or feature piece in The Guardian is going to take the edge off the slow creeping sense of despair.

There’s always beautiful things ahead if you decide to find them

1. Try to do one thing that you enjoy every day

Sure, you can’t jet off to Nassau tomorrow to stay in your luxury villa. But you can get yourself an iced cappuccino before work. You can sit in the park after work for a few minutes and watch the squirrels. You can skip a few stops on the underground and wander through Knightsbridge for a few hours before you head home. You can audition for your local Amateur Dramatics Society. I don’t mean zone out to Netflix for three hours every night: actively pursue conscious little acts of joy. I promise you this will completely transform how you see and feel about your life. You’ll learn to control your own existence and…

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Madelaine Lucy Hanson

27 year old with an awful lot to say about everything. Opinions entirely my own. Usually.