If you think an affair will make you happy, in the technical sense of the word, it will. The word happen has the same roots as ‘happiness’. It refers to a sudden event, that brings emotional response. An affair certainly qualifies as a sudden event that brings emotional responses, although most are in a negative sense.
Happiness is also a relative thing. In some cases, pleasant events leave you feeling ‘happy’ and in other cases, a reduction in negative experiences will leave you feeling ‘happy’. To base major life choices on whether or not you are ‘happy’ amount to either a sudden increase in positive or a sudden decrease in negative. To me, that is not a stable thing to make major life changes on. There are times the weather makes me happy. To leave my wife based on the weather would be stupid, likewise to leave a marriage based on being momentarily unhappy is also a stupid and illogical decision. Happiness is a good thing, although when used as the basis of whether or not you stay in a marriage or what kind of choices you make, it is not good. This amounts to nothing more than an extension of the old hippie adage of “If it feels good, do it”. Many bad choices occurred using that slogan along with “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with”.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey Murrah
