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Comment by mozumder | Hacker News Reader

> Happiness comes from intangibles, like experiences, relationships, activities, not stuff.

Experiences don't make you happy. It's one of the mistakes millennials make. Vacations are exactly the same as buying shit - you're just buying more shit, except your buying a pre-packaged consumer-friendly vacation. Taking a vacation to south of France isn't going to make you happy. You'll be just as angsty there as you are in your current place - don't need the south of France or Machu Picchu to tell you your life is empty.

My advice: Create.

That's happiness right there.

If you want experiences that result in happiness, create some new experience. You know you're doing it right if you actually make the news - when someone ELSE gives a shit about your experience enough to report about it.

The actual process of creating something new is what makes you happy.

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> except your buying a pre-packaged consumer-friendly vacation

I know very very few people under 40 who travel like this. The common way seems to generally be grab an Airbnb and a cheap flight and figure the rest out.

I don’t know why you are being downvoted but your note resonates with me. This I say not based on intuition but experience. Not to say experiences do not matter, but they provide more joy for someone who has found satisfaction from creativity. Enjoyable experiences are the icing on the cake of a meaningful life.

I don't think there's much mileage is blanket statements of what "makes people happy". I've traveled and thoroughly enjoyed it and it made me happy, and I know people who I think honestly derive happiness from staying with the latest fashions, etc. To each their own.

The article already makes a blanket assertion that happiness doesn't derive from stuff, which isn't true for a lot of people. Plenty of people derive their happiness from material things.

> don't need the south of France or Machu Picchu to tell you your life is empty

This. It really clicks with what I have experienced so far. Sometimes, after done some travel activities, back to a hotel or hostel, sit in front of that place and think "what the fuck am I doing here". Nothingness is really real sometimes.

Create or make, I believe, is valuable this day where there are tons of consumers and less creators. A lot of consumer experts when those new version of mass projects come out. So, I agreed that creating something new, useful, helping non-privilege people to have better life, are probably the ways that make us happy.

As others said, young folks do the cheap thing, stay in hostels, or the sorta cheap, stay in AirBnBs vs the pre-packaged thing.

Also, those intangibles are "creating some new experience" - you're not buying a consumer item, you're paying for experiences.

Making things is a whole different thing, even though it can also contribute to some well-being in your life.

It's also interesting that you say that the new experience becomes validating if you "make the news" - so, instead of enjoying the process of creating, you're supposed to focus on the possible end rewards?

That's somewhat antithetical to getting joy out of a lot of endeavors.

> As others said, young folks do the cheap thing, stay in hostels, or the sorta cheap, stay in AirBnBs vs the pre-packaged thing.

Hostels and AirBnB are just cheaper, shittier versions of pre-packaged vacations, which is even worse.

Pro-tip: Don't travel anywhere without being invited there.

If you were invited there, you likely wouldn't need to be staying at a hotel or AirBnB.

Kinda-related side-note: When I was about 18 or so, someone told me never to go to concerts or clubbing without being a VIP. Same thing.

Don't be the rando-stranger-in-the-crowd-reduced-to-nothing. Always be the VIP. You'll be a lot happier that way.

You do you.

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