Can you choose to be happy?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are you happy? How would you answer that question if a stranger with a camera asked?
Five years ago, filmmaker Atdhe Trepca quit his job and drove across the country with a camera, asking hundreds of people that question.
His videos reach millions on TikTok and Instagram, and now he’s made a documentary.
Today, Optimist reporter Maggie Penman shares what Trepca has learned – and the research that backs up his observations.
If you want to hear more stories like this, please let us know. You can reach the whole team at [email protected] or email Maggie at [email protected].
Today’s episode was reported and produced by Maggie Penman, with help from Ted Muldoon, Emma Talkoff, Reena Flores, and Sean Carter, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Allison Klein.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get |
| 0:06.8 | hungry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. |
| 0:13.2 | You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. |
| 0:18.1 | I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. |
| 0:24.1 | Follow, Try This Right Now, wherever you're listening. |
| 0:26.8 | Seriously, try it. |
| 0:32.5 | For the past five years, Al-Day Trepka has been going up to strangers and asking them a simple question. |
| 0:39.3 | Can I ask you a question? |
| 0:40.3 | Oh my goodness, no. |
| 0:42.3 | The question is, are you happy? |
| 0:46.3 | I, who are you? |
| 0:50.3 | These videos reach millions of people on Instagram and TikTok, and taken together, the answers tell a story. |
| 0:58.0 | They've informed Al Day's ideas about happiness, even the really silly ones. |
| 1:03.0 | Are you happy? |
| 1:05.0 | Yeah, very happy. |
| 1:06.0 | What's making you happy? |
| 1:07.0 | Maybe it's, I can't go a day without even pickles. |
| 1:12.8 | When Al-Dadee first started doing this, |
| 1:15.7 | it was just him and sometimes his brother helping him out. |
| 1:18.8 | He quit his day job and traveled around with his camera. |
| 1:22.5 | Now he has a whole team of other filmmakers helping him. |
| 1:24.3 | And they've even made a documentary. |
... |
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