Hello everyone and welcome to savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hedrickson, and every week I'll help you meet

life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

We all roll our eyes at happiness cliches, like live, laugh, love,

or if life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or dance like nobody's watching. Now, even if there is some truth in inspirational sayings, anything you've ever seen crocheted

on a pillow or framed on Michael Scott's wall is automatically suspect.

So, this week, to celebrate the 200th episode of Savvy Psychologist, we'll look at the science

behind five classic pieces of happiness advice and find new, fresh ways

to put them into action. In other words, when you change the way you look at a thing, the thing

you look at changes. Hey, wouldn't that look good on a pillow? All right, let's get into it with

classic happiness tip number one. Don't worry, be happy.

Okay, what it should really say is it's okay to feel life's ups and downs. Now, the happiness

and positive psychology movements, while revolutionary, have had one major negative

side effect, an expectation that we are happy all the time. Over the last few years, I've seen

an upsurge in young adults who come to therapy, mistaking the downs and struggle of everyday life,

as a sign of something gone seriously wrong.

They worry it's not okay to feel sad after a breakup, unsure during a big transition,

or that feeling anything less than happy, motivated, and radiating confidence isn't good enough.

Therefore, instead of don't worry, be happy,

let's update the saying to include normal emotional variation. Indeed, it's okay to feel incompetent, especially when we're pushing ourselves to learn something new. It's totally normal

to feel anxious when we don't have a ton of

experience doing something. And it's important to occasionally feel bored. The best ideas are

born when our minds aren't otherwise occupied with Netflix, YouTube, or even, dare I say,

...