It’s Okay, I Guess

January 27, 2014 | 1

If your default mood hovers between melancholy and despair, you may be cheered (or at least made a bit less glum) by this argument that striving for happiness is bad for us in the long run. Mari Ruti makes the case that a “happy, balanced life” depends in large part on a kind of emotional numbness.

is a staff writer for The Millions. He lives in New York.