I have always been a happy person. When I was a kid, people called me “Mr. Smiley.” I am definitely a “cup 7/8s full” sort of person. I think of myself as resilient, buoyant, optimistic.

But I get down like everybody else.

The world is a hard place to be and so it is in our nature as humans to try and wrap ourselves in familiar comfort. For some of us this means introversion and isolation; for others it means the opposite: Wrapping ourselves in people and places we know or getting ‘lost in the crowd.’

And for some of us, it’s all just too much too often and we spiral down and away, duck our heads, head for the shadows, stay in bed, eat comforting foods, stay out of the light and out of the way.

I think it’s very easy to slip off into depression and never see it coming. It’s hard to share things honestly about ourselves (and sometimes it’s just too much for others to bear that burden – trust me, I know).

Media has become very controlling. We used to (and still do) pick and choose what we like to read or watch based on how it made us feel. Nowadays we are more than likely lured in, hooked and then emotionally manipulated by media. Rather than Choosers we become Victims.

We need to learn how to step back, step away, breathe deeply and check in on how we’re feeling. Triggers are too refined and too powerful, intentions are destructive.

We need to regain our self-control, our self-determination and our sense of self as well as our sense of others. Time for disconnecting and reconnecting in healthier ways. Never before has the search for happiness been so vital to our future.