Según yo, la felicidad se hace de pequeños momentos, a veces tan insignificantes y simples, que pueden pasar desapercibidos para otros. Mi trabajo me da felicidad, por ejemplo, mi familia, mis sobrinos. Soy feliz si recibo un regalo, si comparto una excelente conversación con un amigo, si el Internet o la luz no se van. Ese estado de felicidad no es permanente, pero la cantidad de momentos en los que la felicidad ha estado presente en mi vida es lo que me lleva a decir, sin ninguna duda, de que soy una mujer feliz.

Tampoco creo que la felicidad tenga que ver con tener cosas lujosas o costosas. Creo que la felicidad tiene que ver con querer o apreciar lo que tienes, sea mucho o poco. Volviendo a la pregunta que le hago a mis estudiantes, la respuesta, tal vez, sea Depende. ¿Depende de qué? Depende de si esas mujeres están haciendo lo que siempre han querido. Y es que tal vez esa mujer que viaja y tiene título siempre quiso tener hijos y no los tiene, y vive infeliz, aunque haya obtenido lo que socialmente es sinónimo de éxito; y la ama de casa, que no se graduó y apenas le alcanza el dinero, siempre quiso tener una familia y es sumamente feliz, aunque a veces pierda la paciencia con los niños y cuando llueve, se le moje la casa.

Esta experiencia me lleva a decir que la felicidad es una opción que tú eliges: elegimos ser felices por encima y a pesar de las cosas. No podemos sabotearnos nosotros mismos y exigirnos tanto, que por nuestra culpa seamos infelices. Ojo, no estoy en contra de las metas o exigencias propias, estoy en contra del poder autodestructor que tenemos. En lo personal, mil veces elijo la felicidad de ese 5, que la cuestionada actitud de Valeria.

Society has taught us that happiness has to do with obtaining or achieving material and economically significant things: “I'll be happy when I graduate, when I buy a car, when I buy a house, when a man with money asks me to marry him, when I win the lottery,” we say, as if happiness is postponed until we achieve what we have been taught to desire, or as if happiness were the same formula for everyone.

They have drummed into our heads that happiness is expensive and unattainable, and that even if we are happy today, tomorrow we will surely cry, as if happiness were cursed. In fact, the most pessimistic have managed to spread the idea that happiness does not exist and that if we do achieve it, it will be with death.

In my opinion, happiness is made up of small moments, sometimes so insignificant and simple that they can go unnoticed by others. My job makes me happy, for example, as do my family and my nephews. I am happy when I receive a gift, when I have a great conversation with a friend, when the internet or the power doesn't go out. That state of happiness is not permanent, but the number of moments when happiness has been present in my life is what leads me to say, without a doubt, that I am a happy woman.

Nor do I believe that happiness has anything to do with having luxurious or expensive things. I believe that happiness has to do with wanting or appreciating what you have, whether it is a lot or a little. Returning to the question I ask my students, the answer, perhaps, is “It depends.” Depends on what? It depends on whether those women are doing what they have always wanted to do. Perhaps the woman who travels and has a degree always wanted to have children and doesn't, and lives unhappily, even though she has achieved what is socially synonymous with success; and the housewife, who didn't graduate and barely makes ends meet, always wanted to have a family and is extremely happy, even though she sometimes loses her patience with the children and when it rains, her house gets wet..

This experience leads me to say that happiness is a choice you make: we choose to be happy above and despite things. We cannot sabotage ourselves and demand so much of ourselves that we make ourselves unhappy. Mind you, I am not against setting goals or demands for ourselves; I am against the self-destructive power we have. Personally, I choose the happiness of that 5 a thousand times over Valeria's questionable attitude..