It is not news to anyone reading this: working in a library is hard. Doing any kind of public-facing customer service work is always hard, and right now a lot of things are coming together to make it more complicated.

We can’t fix that for you. Sorry.

But this semester, we are going to provide small weekly stress-management/happiness builder ideas. They aren’t going to make all your issues magically solve themselves. But, everyone can use a reminder to take a step back and breathe.

Here are some excerpts from an article by The Atlantic’s happiness correspondent, with three tips for us to consider. You can read the whole thing here.

“A good life isn’t just about getting the details right. Here are some truths that transcend circumstance and time.

Maxim 1: Mother Nature doesn’t care if you are happy.

Perhaps the greatest error people make about happiness is assuming it will come naturally if we follow our instincts—that is, If it feels good, do it. There’s a simplistic sort of logic here: Humans desire lots of worldly rewards, like money, power, pleasure, and admiration. We also want to be happy. Thus, if we get that worldly stuff, we will be happy. But this is nature’s cruelest hoax, perpetrated to make sure that we pass on our genes with no consideration of whether we enjoy doing so…

Happiness is your responsibility, not Mother Nature’s. That means you need to curtail your worldly appetites, and instead pursue what truly brings enduring happiness: a faith or life philosophy, family relationships, real friendship, and meaningful work.

Maxim 2: Lasting happiness comes from habits, not hacks.

We live in a culture of “hacking,” or finding shortcuts to achieve otherwise time-consuming goals or invade well-protected systems. The internet is full of “happiness hacks” that will supposedly boost your well-being in surprising ways, with little effort. And indeed, you can use small, easy actions to change your emotional state quickly, such as turning off the notifications on your phone, which I highly recommend. But for enduring happiness changes, you need habits, not hacks. And by habits, I don’t mean mindless routines; I mean mindful, daily practices to strengthen your relationships, deepen your wisdom, and uncover meaning in your life.

Maxim 3: Happiness is love.

In the early fifth century, Saint Augustine summarized all of human ethics in the dictum “Love and do what you will.” The happiest people have lives focused on love: of family, of friends, of others through work that serves, and in some cases of the divine as well. Research on people who wind up happy (and healthy) as they grow old shows that the most important part of life to cultivate is a series of stable, long-term love relationships.

Not everyone enjoys a love-filled life; it’s true. But here’s the best news: You have a great deal of control over this, because love is a decision and a commitment. Aquinas defines love as “to will the good of the other.” You can’t choose how much love you will get, but happiness depends more on how much you give. And what you give your love to matters just as much. Augustine taught that to be happy, a person “neither loves what he ought not love, nor fails to love what he ought to love.” Here’s a handy formula to go by: Happy people love people and use things; unhappy people use people and love things.”

You can read the whole thing here!