There are many articles on how to increase happiness therefore it might be worth writing one on how to become unhappy.
Following is a list of seven convenient and frequently used methods of becoming unhappy on a sustainable basis 1.
Get a job that you do not enjoy.
This way you would be spending several hours of your life in an unhappy manner.
It is likely to become a habit even when not in the workplace.
To add to the woes ensure that about an hour or so is required to commute to work each way.
Thereby, one can cut down drastically on the free time available for any happy pursuit.
In case someone suggests an alternate job that might be less unpleasant, find reasons to avoid that, such as the new job pays less or is less respectable etc.
Let everything else such as money become far more important to you than happiness.
2.
Find a home in a crowded and large city, located away from nature and greenery.
That way, we can avoid the inherent happiness that nature tends to produce in humans.
Living in a large city further ensures that its dwellers are busy and have little time to interact with each other in any personal or substantial manner.
We can thus avoid the happiness social interactions can produce.
3.
Lead a busy rushed life so that you do not have the time for basics such as cooking, cleaning, socializing, entertaining etc.
These latter activities may reduce unhappiness.
4.
Continue to live and work with people and friends who periodically upset and annoy you.
This method works wonders in producing unhappiness on a sustained basis.
5.
Do not indulge in any service or charitable activity.
Let all good deeds be for yourself or your family only.
Restrict yourself to plain undiluted selfishness.
Philanthropists and do-gooders tend to become happy in some mysterious way.
6.
Do not lead a moral, truthful and principled life.
These values tend to reduce unhappiness.
Once you have succeeded in banishing these encumbrances, add indiscipline to your daily schedule.
Vary your meal and sleep hours on a regular basis.
Disciplined life produces peace and good health that is only minutes away from happiness.
7.
Do not believe in God or religion because it can give a sense of peace and security, which is an essential prerequisite to happiness.
Religious people frequently enjoy the benefits of an opium or drug like happiness without suffering the ill effects of the drug.
If you reflect on the seven steps listed here you will realize that most humans on our planet are already following one or more of them.
No wonder most are unhappy.
One may question, what is the purpose of writing such an article, when what it proposes to achieve - unhappiness - is already widespread.
The idea of listing the seven steps here is that it is possible one may have missed out on one or more.
Following most or all will increase the effect.
Or, perhaps you might be a person who genuinely wishes to work for happiness, then you might consider doing the opposite of these suggestions to increase happiness in your life.