How to Be Happy

13 August 2014 - Posted by Hillary Rettig

How to Be Happy in a World Full of Suffering

Dear Hillary: “How do I enjoy myself when so many horrors go on continually?”

Dear Animal Activist:

Hillary & Billy

Thank you for your question, which was actually the most-submitted one. It saddens me to think that so many animal activists—whom I truly consider to be among the best and noblest people on the planet—struggle to find joy. As I hope to convince you, it is not only possible to be joyful in a world filled with suffering, I think it is imperative that animal activists and advocates learn to do so.

Before I explain how, please note that there is a difference between being reluctant to admit joy into your life, or confused on how to do so, and being unable to experience joy. If you are experiencing unshakeable feelings of sadness, guilt, or shame, or if those feelings are impairing your ability to function, I urge you to consult a therapist or other professional who can evaluate you for PTSD and compassion fatigue, and provide treatment if necessary.

Joy comes from doing things that give us pleasure, and then allowing ourselves to experience that pleasure. It requires physical and mental time and energy. I’m tempted to begin this post by explaining why joyfulness will make you a better activist; however, joyfulness needs no such justification. As human animals, we have innate needs for play, creativity, exploration, socializing, and other potentially joyful activities; and just as many activists work hard to ensure that nonhuman animals rescued from factory farms, laboratories, and zoos finally get the opportunity to utilize their full capacities and experience joy, we should not deny ourselves that same opportunity.

Activists often deny themselves joy because they feel it’s wrong to have fun while others are suffering, and/or that they should be devoting all their time and energy to alleviating that suffering. Let’s discuss those ideas individually.

Grief, anger, and other strong emotions are certainly appropriate responses to animal suffering. However, it’s important to keep in mind that they will not, in and of themselves, help animals. You have the absolute right to spend a lot of your time grieving or angry, of course, I’m just not sure that that is a particularly healthy or admirable choice. I think we can all learn from the many faith traditions that advise adherents to do as much as possible to help those in need, but not at the expense of one’s own well-being.

To any activist who feels it’s wrong to enjoy life while animals are suffering: please really think through the implications of that viewpoint, and discuss it with trusted friends and advisors. Especially think about what you would consider the mission or purpose of your life. If that mission is to, say, help alleviate animal suffering, then even an hour or two per month of focused and strategic action will achieve more along those lines than countless hours of grief or rage. (Action can also help heal grief, but that is a topic for another column.)

As for the idea that one should devote “all my time and energy” to activism, that statement, when examined closely, doesn’t even make sense. (No time even to brush your teeth?) It’s compelling in its vagueness, but reflects a romanticized, grandiose, self-sacrificial vision of activism that’s far more likely lead to what famed animal activist Henry Spira called “the phenomenon of doing without achieving”–and burnout rather than productivity.

Someone who aspires to do the most good for animals should focus on building their effectiveness. Find your specialty, manage your time, locate mentors, build your skills, and overcome barriers like procrastination, perfectionism, and ambivalence. (These could all be topics for future columns, email me if you’d like to see that.) A natural part of your effectiveness quest will be determining how big a role you want activism to play in your life and making that decision consciously—as opposed to semiconsciously, which is at least partly motivated out of guilt, shame, grandiosity, or confusion which will yield a far better result.

Play More, To Do More and Better Activism

So, you should build joy into your life because it’s the right thing to do. But, yes, you can also do it to be a better activist. Here are some of the benefits that joyfulness and joyful activities confer on activism:

A more effective and sustainable career.
In her book “Strategic Action for Animals,” Melanie Joy tells the poignant story of an activist who, for years, gave her all to save feral cats and other animals around Boston, and who felt “guilty and frivolous” if she even thought about taking a night off. “Eventually,” Joy writes, “This activist who’d started out as a tireless champion for the animals became an embittered, weary, and depressed woman who quit the movement. I’ve always wondered how many more animals she could have saved if she’d taken care of herself.” Joy advises activists to “Make sure you have fun…at least several times a week.” and “Find a form of creative expression that you enjoy.”

New opportunities for activism.
In his classic “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” Gene Sharp notes that the work of nonviolent revolutionary change occurs in many settings, including, “families, religious organizations, cultural associations, sports clubs, economic institutions, trade unions, student associations, political parties, villages, neighborhood associations, gardening clubs, human rights organizations, musical groups, literary societies, and others.”

So, join the sports team, garden club, musical club, or book club! Participate fully and have fun while also advocating respectfully (i.e., without undermining the group’s main objective) for the animals.

Improved “people skills.”
In “Rules for Radicals,” Saul Alinsky notes that, “One can lack any of the qualities of an organizer—with one exception—and still be effective and successful. That exception is the art of communication.” In “Ethics Into Action”, his biography of Henry Spira, Peter Singer notes how Spira’s easygoing personality and great relational skills were fundamental to his success, quoting, among others, an executive from cosmetics company, Revlon, which Spira and others persuaded to stop testing on animals: “On the top management floor…there wasn’t one person who didn’t get to personally know Henry, and like him.”

People skills are so valuable in activism! And interacting with diverse people via a hobby, sport, or other recreational activity is a great, low-stress way to acquire them.

More persuasiveness.
Although we might want people to support animals and/or go vegan based on our intellectual and ethical arguments, the reality is that many, if not most, people will be even more influenced by how we deliver that message—including our own appearance and attitude. If we come across as happy, healthy, secure, and joyful, that will be highly persuasive. But if we come across as unhappy, bitter, or stressed, that is likely to influence people away from our viewpoint. (That’s one reason the animal industries go to such great lengths to paint animal activists as “weird,” “unhealthy,” “unAmerican,” and even “terrorists.”)

Your interests and the animals’, it turns out, are not opposed! They actually align. Although some animals will suffer for lack of you acting at any given moment, that is the tragic reality of all social justice work—there’s essentially an infinite amount to be done, and finite time, money, energy, and other resources with which to do it. This is, admittedly, a hard truth, but it’s one that must be faced by every activist. You can’t save everyone, and shouldn’t aim to.

I’m writing this at the height of the summer vacation season, here in the Northern Hemisphere. (Southerners, your vacation will come!) It is my fervent wish that any animal or vegan (or other!) activist reading this who has been reluctant to take a vacation now decides to do so—and to enjoy his or her time off to the fullest.

I also urge you to urge other animal activists to do the same, so that, together, we can all grow stronger for ourselves and the animals.

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