Iceland: Happiness is Failure

Iceland's capital, Reykjavik

The snow covering Iceland

When I arrived in Iceland at 10:00 a.m., the only light was from the stark white snow illuminating the frozen earth. The sun was nowhere in sight and would apparently not be rising at all for a few months-lovely. I did not want to be there; I’ve never been one for cold weather. But Iceland was an essential aspect on my journey to discover contentment. This country has consistently ranked in the top percentiles -if not number one- of the happiest places in the world. After questioning many native Icelanders, I had come to the conclusion that this is because failure is admired in their culture. Well, failure is admired if it is a result of good intentions. For instance, if an American businessman uses ruthless tactics to reach success this is considered the ultimate taboo. Icelanders think that it is only the trying that counts, not the end result. They like to try and learn new things even if they know the end result will not necessarily be a masterpiece. This explains why it seems like absolutely everyone in Iceland is a poet or an artist of some sort, or why so many teenagers have garage bands with no hope of success. I imagined that the lack of pressure to succeed only caused more success and a deeper understanding of one’s inner self.