About Tracking Happiness
They say that everyone you meet is engaged in a great struggle. No matter how well someone manages to hide it, there’s always something to overcome, a struggle to deal with, an obstacle to climb.
With so many struggles to overcome, it can feel hard to stay happy. And what’s more important than your happiness? No matter how happy you currently are, we are here to help you.
Our goal is to help you better manage your happiness.
Tracking Happiness is dedicated to exploring every aspect of mental health and happiness, addressing them with openness and depth because we’re here for your entire journey — for your entire life. Recognizing that each person faces unique challenges in their pursuit of happiness, we listen intently and lead with empathy in all our interactions. Our approach is deeply rooted in personal experiences and a strong commitment to inclusivity, reflecting our understanding and shared experiences with you.
We invite you to delve into the wealth of resources Tracking Happiness offers — from our insightful articles and case studies to our newsletter and community.
Thank you for joining us on this journey,
The Tracking Happiness Team
Our Team
Whether you’re here to gain insights into your happiness journey, understand more about mental health, utilize our tools, or engage with our community, you’ve found the right place.
At Tracking Happiness, you’ll discover content that is not only informative and accessible but also deeply engaging and inspiring. More than that, you’ll find a compassionate team of experts and enthusiasts who genuinely care about your well-being and happiness.
Hugo Huijer
FOUNDER & AUTHOR
I’m the founder of Tracking Happiness, which I started in an effort to find like-minded people from all over the world. I interviewed over 100 people about mental health struggles, in an effort to destigmatize mental health issues. Hailing from the Netherlands, I’m a skateboarding enthusiast, marathon runner, and a dedicated data junkie, tracking my happiness for over a decade.
Maili Tirel
AUTHOR
School psychologist, teacher, and internet counselor from Estonia. Passionate about coffee, reading, dancing, and singing in the shower, much to the neighbors’ dismay. Counseling catchphrase: “It’s okay!“
Ashley Kaiser
AUTHOR
Physical therapist, writer, and outdoor enthusiast from Arizona. Self-proclaimed dark chocolate addict and full-time adrenaline junkie. Obsessed with my dog and depending on the day my husband, too.
Ali Hall
AUTHOR
Kindness is my superpower. Dogs and nature are my oxygen. Psychology with Sports science graduate. Scottish-born and bred. I’ve worked and traveled all over the world. Find me running long distances on the hills and trails.
Madel Asuncion
AUTHOR
Writer and advocate for young people’s mental health. Firm believer of validating one’s feelings, prioritizing the inner-self, and finding happiness in a plate of chicken curry.
Silvia Adamyova
AUTHOR
Born in Slovakia, raised in Canada. Online English teacher, editor, copywriter, and translator. You’ll find me holed up in a bookstore, typing in a cafe, or immersed in a philosophical debate.
Read our founder story of Hugo Huijer here.
Our Case Studies
At Tracking Happiness, we’re dedicated to helping others around the world overcome struggles of mental health.
In 2022, we published a survey of 5,521 respondents and found that 88% of our respondents experienced mental health issues in the past year. Even worse, 25% of people don’t feel comfortable sharing their struggles with anyone, not even their closest friends.
It’s clear that most people you meet are engaged in a struggle. No matter how well someone manages to hide it, there’s always something to overcome, a struggle to deal with, an obstacle to climb.
We are on a mission to share your stories of overcoming mental health struggles. By doing so, we want to help inspire you to overcome the things that you’re struggling with, while also breaking the stigma of mental health.
No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you’ve struggled with, we want to share your story. Please visit this page to learn more.
As Seen On
Our Work
We take this seriously. Whenever we come across a topic that lacks information, we don’t just fill in the blanks. Instead, we get to work and collect data to find a trustworthy answer.
Over the years, we’ve released studies and surveys that have revealed new insights about happiness and mental health.
Like this one about remote work and happiness. Or this one about vegan diets and happiness.
We’re proud that our work is discussed, shared, and featured all over the world.
What About Fact-Checking?
We are committed to the highest standards of accuracy and reliability in our content. Every statement made on our website is meticulously fact-checked and supported by authoritative studies. This dedication to truth extends beyond initial publication.
Every quarter, our team conducts a thorough review of all facts and references mentioned across our content. This rigorous process ensures that every piece of information remains current and relevant. Through this continuous updating, we maintain an ever-evolving backlog of happiness facts and studies, providing you with the most trustworthy and up-to-date insights into mental health and happiness.
Our Community
One of the core pillars of Tracking Happiness is our vibrant online community. We believe that the strength and growth of our platform are deeply rooted in the sense of community we foster. Your interaction and engagement are not just welcomed – they are essential.
This is why we have enabled comments on all our pages, creating spaces for open, supportive discussions and shared experiences. Our email subscribers are always just a reply button away from direct contact with us, ensuring a continuous and personal connection.
Moreover, we actively involve our community through periodic surveys. These surveys are more than just questionnaires; they are a window into what truly makes our followers happy. This feedback is invaluable, helping us tailor our content and tools to better serve your needs and deepen our collective understanding of happiness.
Our Editorial Process And AI
At Tracking Happiness, we prioritize the authentic human element in our content.
While AI tools offer efficiency, they lack the depth and empathy required for topics as sensitive as mental health and happiness. That’s why we do not use AI to write our articles. Each piece is crafted by real people, ensuring authenticity and accuracy. Our writers and experts bring personal insights, fact-checked information, and actionable advice to every article.
By focusing on human-driven content, we provide relatable, empathetic, and genuinely helpful resources, steering clear of the pitfalls of AI-generated content in the mental health space.
Finally, we try to include real examples and stories from our community. Mental health advice can often seem unactionable and ambiguous. We always aim to give you actual steps to help you incorporate best practices into your life.
Terms of Use
Our content and tools are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911. If you or any other person are feeling suicidal or are in immediate crisis – don’t depend on Tracking Happiness for help.
Hello,
Thank you so much for sharing the comments section
Greetings! I have stumbled upon your blog a few weeks ago and I would like to genuinely thank you for your work in here and helping the community find more happiness in several ways. I also read through the founder’s story and I noticed you have a small team. Would you be interested in extra hands? I would like to contribute as a writer in here as I have lived experiences navigating through my own endeavors and I would be happy to share my ways of conquering it.
Hi Julia,
Thanks for reaching out! We’re currently not looking to expand our team, but that usually doesn’t last long! In the future, I’ll keep you in mind!
Hugo
Hey Hugo
I’ve been surveying the web for happiness blogs/newsletters/twitter feeds and yours is the most interesting, the one that gives best hope of fresh insights. So every encouragement, I hope you keep going.
I’ve done some happiness factor tracking like you (in the real world so many aspects of our lives are changing all the time! but over time we can still isolate and test and try new modals and configurations for getting to happy).
For me the real value in your work is your insights and scenarios, e.g. how living when happy is; that the rest of our lives don’t stop, and that we have other drivers that will continue.
All best wishes
Hi John,
Nice to meet you, and thanks for the nice words! 🙂 I’ll definitely keep going, as I’m noticing more and more that the idea of tracking happiness / journaling can help a lot of people!
All the best,
Hugo
Hi, Hugo! I found your project two days ago and liked it! I start tracking my happiness today. I diarize for many years, so your system will be a good supplement.
I’m also from Russia as Eugeniy below and I also have a question… about… rating =))) (maybe it’s national pecularity). You sometimes rate your happiness as 8.1. Does this mean that your happiness may be 8.2, 8.3 or for example 7.6? You acrually use 100 degrees scale? Please never mind if my question is also awesome =)
For me I will use scale with both positive and negative numbers. I mean that zero is “everything is ok”, just calm day, nothing worries me, nothing extraordinary, and nothing to change my mood neither to plus nor to minus. Such a kind of Buddist philosophy. Hope your formulas will cope with negative numbers, otherwise I will adjust them.
Regards,
Alexey
Hi Alexey,
It’s great to have you, looking forward to hearing more from you. 🙂
You bloody Russians are really picking my brain here haha. I sometimes rate my happiness with small decimal differences, yes. I feel like it’s needed to differentiate between two days that were very similar, but I still felt slightly happier.
So yes, you can say that I rate my happiness on a 100 degrees scale. Well, actually, a 90 degrees scale, since my minimum rating is 1.
Truth is, it doesn’t matter! Use whatever scale feels best for you. If you think your scale is better than mine, then let me know, you might be able to convince me to use yours 😉
All the best,
Hugo
Hi Hugo,
There’s not reason to convince this is just suitable for me. I think that it is normal to be calm. It’s “mood by default”, some kind of healthy situation. If I’m calm, I can go down if smth bad happens or up if smth good. My goal is to be on zero or in small plus. Thus I have enough space to feel really happy if I get offer of job of my dream, invent something incrediable or have +500% visitors on my website unexpectedly.
I think that both deep sadness and deep happyness are very “expencive” conditions, they cost us much of our internal resources. You can’t be too much happy for a long time because you will be exhausted so as being sad for too long. On the other hand life is so that our mood changes and it’s normal. You can’t be happier from year to year. Your scale is limited. If you were 7.5 on average during 2018, what’s the goal for 2019? 8.0? And when you will reach 10?
I think you also have some level that you consider to be “good result”. It may be 7 or 8, I have no idea because it’s your system =) So I just decided to consider “good result” to be zero on scale.
Will be +1 or +2 happy if I had explained the idea in my clumsy English =)))
Regards,
Alexey
You touch some good points here. And no worries, your English is totally fine.
Eternal happiness doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean that it’s pointless to strive towards that. Consider this: I’ve been very happy in 2019. My average happiness rating was a 7.83, which is quite high in my opinion. It still could have been better though. There were a couple of things I think I could have done better. I’m talking about the things I can influence. There will probably be different factors in 2019 that will result in lower happiness, but if I do my best to positively influence the things I can control, then I can steer my life in the best direction.
That said, I’d be more than happy if my average happiness rating would be a 7.83 again in 2019!
I’m really interested in your experiences with your tracking happiness journey! If you’re ever interested in sharing your experiences on the Happy Blog, you know where to find me! 😉
Thanks, Hugo!
I will share as soon as I have enough data.
Hi, Hugo!
This is not for publishing, just want to say that there are really no e-mails from your site about replies to comments. I mean I received no e-mails that you answered my comments. I just checked this page every day.
Regards,
Alexey.
P.S. And when I press “Post Comment” there is no info that it is accepted and on moderation. The page just scrolls to the top and I can’t understand was my commenting successful.
P.P.S. Now there is no moderation, sorry for spaming, please delete my last comments! =))
Hi,
I’m ready to start track my happiness, but a little bit frustrated about happiness ratings.
Firsrt of all my scale from 1 to 5 (integral), 1 – very bad, 5 – excellent, 3 – ordinary day. And my question for you, as an expert, how are you feel that now your rating is fractional on a 1 to 10 scale?
Hi Evgeniy! That’s awesome. I’m having trouble understanding your question however.
My advice is to not worry too much about the scale in the beginning! Just start rating your happiness daily, and you will soon figure out which scale works best for you! Using fractions in happiness ratings is always good to track subtle differences in happiness between days.
If you have any questions, please let me know! ?
Hey man,
I was reading hckrnews posts and I approached to your website. it’s nice to see people like you.
I just wanted to say as a middle eastern guy who is living at Iran I think I’m happy even though many things are banned such as Beers ( all alcoholics), dancing (it’s illegal), mandatory hijab and more…
surprisingly people (including me) are still happy despite of crazy inflation rate that we are struggling with.
reading your post is really heartwarming for me and I just wanted to say keep working man.
Hey Sajad. Thank you so much for this comment, it’s really inspiring. We are all beautifully unique, and everybody has different sources of happiness. For one that may be dancing, for others that may be something entirely different. I would love to visit your country some time, to experience our completely different cultures. And hey, if you want to start tracking happiness yourself, I would LOVE to have you post your experiences here on this website! ?
All the best!
Ey!, Im Alejandro, Im quite surprised about your project. You will not believe it, but I’ve been doing exactly the same for 13 years!. I would love to talk to you, we can learn so much together. Please write me ?
Hey Alejandro! Thanks for commenting!
13 years! Holy shit, that’s a LOT of data. I’m emailing you right away, I’d love to discuss this topic more! ?
Not sure where else to ask this: where is the “subscribe” button? You’re producing fantastic content, I’d like to get notified by email when you post new articles. Is “Notify me of new posts by email.” checkbox when commenting for that, or is that for new comments to given article? Maybe worth making a dedicated page for email subscriptions.
Good luck, can’t wait to read your book ;))
THANKS! 🙂
Sorry for the inconvenience. I used to have a very clear subscription form, but I deleted it last week after finding out it messed with the loading speed of my website. I have yet to find a good replacement. (edit: I’ve now added subscribe features again! :))
Oh, and don’t hold your breath on that book release haha. I want to focus on growing this website first via unique content!
You have got an unusual passion.
Care to explain? 😉
I’m finding this really interesting the more I read about your process. I’ve never thought of tracking my happiness before, but I’m interested to try doing this, at least for a couple of weeks to a month, and see how it goes.
Would I need to keep a journal as well, or are the ratings enough?
That’s awesome!
I’d be very interested in hearing about your experiences.
You need to keep track of your happiness and the factors that influence it. The journaling is not necessary, but it adds an infinite amount of personality to your data, and will be great if you ever want to look back at your past!
Yeah, that’s true!
I think I’ll add journaling to it and see how it goes. You’re right about how easy it is to forget stuff and just gloss over things over time. It’ll be interesting to keep a record and see how things change.