Do you feel guilty for feeling happy?

[XmasIn24]

I do all the time. It's getting worse recently and I'm starting to think it's not normal for me to feel like this.

Whenever I notice I'm laughing or enjoying myself I start to feel guilty as there are many people in the world suffering and I think why should I be happy?

Yesterday I had a moment where I felt excited for Christmas, then I thought how can I be happy when this bad thing is happening or this person is sad or having a bad time.

How normal is it to think like this?

Yes constantly.
My sister is my best friend and she’s had such a difficult life. I’ve had a fairly easy life and have a lot of security. I help her as much as I can but I do find myself terrible when I’m happy about something that she doesn’t have as well b

Never. I have had way too much misery in my life to feel anything other than grateful when I am happy. I hold onto it and I enjoy it. It doesn’t mean I don’t have empathy for other people but my own mental health is important.

I always feel like of I'm happy something will come away to snatch it. I never feel smug, although I have a lovely life and I'm so grateful but I think if I'm too settled in my happiness then it'll almost being on something bad.

I don't usually, I have at times this year though.

Oh god no. I’ve had plenty of shit times, I embrace and cherish the happy ones. Big and small!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, enjoy the moment when you can.

Yes I do OP. I feel very flat at the moment though and feel guilty about that too. I have a good life but catastrophise about climate change, Covid, Brexit and everything in-between. Whenever I feel happy I think omg there's all that stuff to worry about - it's not great for ones mental health it has to be said .

Not for a minute. I've fucking earned my happiness.

Yes, I do. I don’t think I deserve to be happy or to do things I’d enjoy. I think it’s a feature of difficult mental health.

No. Never.

I do empathise with people who are not having the same happiness i am having. I would not gloat or rub their nose in it. I am lucky compared to a lot of people in the world and I appreciate that every day.

I'm not sure it would help anyone who is suffering right now by me being miserable about my privilege.

I never feel guilty for being happy. I deserve to feel happy. Don't try to find reasons not to be; as long as your happiness is not the cause of other people's unhappiness, then find reason to be cheerful and enjoy it.

Feeling bad for being happy isn’t going to help anyone who’s in a worse position.

no i never feel guilty for feeling happy
this has never even occurred to me
i don't understand why you would... i don't think this is a normal/usual thing to feel

The more pertinent question for my personal life and probably how I judge myself/others is ‘do I contribute to the worlds happiness or take from it without giving back?’

I’m good with my answer and currently the people that are closest to me/that I have most contact with, I can see by their actions that they also care about others and do what they can to make the world a kinder place.

I’m really glad you posted Xmas because sometimes its easy to forget who you are, or why you also deserve happiness, or to be greedy or selfish or steal or ruin another persons happiness as revenge on the world.

And I like being reminded that mostly people are more mature than that, that even with all the problems in the world that most people care about each other, even strangers, and behave in a decent, kind, warm and open way.

If that’s you I wish you every happiness and that you give yourself permission to feel it.

To use an analogy, if you can share your bread do, physically or by helping someone else bake, if you can’t - don’t throw your bread away in anger or despair - it might give you the strength to help yourself or others in the future, even the act of eating and enjoying it might inspire others to really savour their own.

No I don’t feel bad for it; I’ve had enough unhappy times to appreciate happiness when I find it and know how fleeting it can be

No, I enjoy feeling happy at least fleetingly most days and I hold onto those moments, enjoy them, and then get on with the rest of life! Otherwise I really don't know what I'd be bothering for. I don't mean extremely happy, just a feeling of 'aww' or something being nice, or having a laugh with your child, or noticing something interesting, snuggling the cat. I'm not 'happy' or 'unhappy' I'm just me with some bits of happy in there, I think it's fine to feel happy!