By Elaine Viets
What made you happy in the last 24 hours? What about the last three months?
OK, I’ll go first.
A surprise gift of orchids from a friend. And the silly antics of my cat Vanessa. Both made me happy in the last 24 hours. They’re pictured below.
In the last three months, the weekly phone calls from my cousin Lisa made me happy.
These questions are important not only for our well-being, but to understand how writers create our characters. I read about happiness in a recent article in The Pudding, and if you don’t subscribe to this free newsletter, you’re definitely missing out on happiness.
Writer Alvin Chang’s Pudding article “mapped out 100,000 moments collected as part of a research project on what makes people happy. From sensory pleasure and serendipity to leisure and personal growth, he identified the major themes that emerge when we think about our most cherished moments.”
Here are few that may make you smile, especially the first one:
“My boss was away on business which made my workday very enjoyable and left me with a smile on my face all day.” Female, 36, married, parent
“I went to see my Grandma at the nursing home.” Male, 26, single
“My husband was ignoring me and I laid in bed thinking of funny words with the word ‘sass’ in them to describe him (like Sasquatch) – it amused me greatly.” Female, 26, parent
“I got to leave work early on Friday.” Female, 53, single, parent
“I took a day off to enjoy a nice day.” Male, 38, mot a parent
“Enjoyed a Hardboys Peach Country hard cider.” Male, 32, single, not a parent
“I made progress on some household projects.” Female, 22, married, not a parent
“I was able to stay home and work, while my brother-in-law picked up the kids from school by switching his schedule.” Female, 37, married, parent
Scientists used to believe that happiness was U-shaped. “We are happy when we’re young, less happy when we’re middle-aged and then happy again when we’re old.”
Chang mentioned a research article by Arthur Stone that surveyed people between 18 and 85. It said, “Stress and anger steeply declined from the early 20s, worry was elevated through middle age and then declined, and sadness was essentially flat.”
But hold on . . . that U-shape may no longer be true. Another story says, “Pooling Global Minds data across 44 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, over the period 2020–2025 we confirm that ill-being is no longer hump-shaped in age but now decreases in age.”
So the middle-age slump is out. The twenties are a rough time. The reason for this is sad: “the deterioration in young people’s mental health both absolutely and relative to older people.”
Once you get through your difficult 20s, your chances of happiness increase.
When Harvard researchers followed people for their entire lives, Alvin Chang wrote, “they found that good relationships were the most important thing for happy, healthy lives.” We need a “meaningful life with a sense of purpose.”
That makes sense. Except social media and smart phones have made us addicted to screens from a young age. “It’s taken a toll on how much time we spend with each other.”
Alvin Chang included a “happy map” with his article. Check it out here. https://pudding.cool/2026/02/happy-map/ he says it’s “a mirror of the broken world we’ve built, as seen through our most cherished moments.”
What makes your characters happy?
Now in paperback: Sex and Death on the Beach, my new Florida beach mystery, is now in paperback. If you read it and like it, you’ll make me happy. https://tinyurl.com/3ut3chuu