#100HappyDays: Challenge Accepted?

By now, most of you have come across the “cool” hashtag of '100HappyDays' on Facebook or other social media. The idea behind this challenge is quite simple and comes with a tagline, “You don't have time for this, right?”. Indeed, we lead such busy lives that we lose our ability to enjoy the moment we are in and appreciate the little things in life that make us happy. However, even after all the hurdles that we face as a nation, Bangladesh has achieved a high Happy Planet Index Score in the past and ranked #11 of all the countries analysed.
The mastermind behind the happiness project is Dmitry Golubnichy. The 27-year-old lives in Switzerland and embarked on his own challenge last November in order to take note of all the things around him that make him happy. Since the project's public launch on December 30, 2013, thousands of people across the globe have been sharing daily glimpses into moments that make them happy. The photo submissions can be anything under the sun like having your favourite ice cream, meeting an old friend, talking to your grandparents, doing your laundry etc.
The '100HappyDays' website has members signing up to promote their own happiness. The challenge involves participants using their favourite social media platform to post photos of what has made them happy about their day with the hashtag '#100HappyDays'. In case you do not want to share with the world your reason of happiness, you can always opt for sending pictures via email. Users have claimed to be in a better mood every day after successfully completing the challenge.  
Ata Khan Mojlish, a 20 year old photographer on his 44th day of “happiness”, says, “I always try to find interesting frames wherever I go and any such frame can get me in a good mood. Carrying a smartphone and a camera means that happiness is just a click away. On the not-so-good days, I try to look towards the constant source of happiness that I have in my life. My sister is always keen to pose for my camera and at the end of the day we make sure we have a happy photograph. So, this is how I have been continuing the project. However, sometimes I do not have good internet connection and I cannot upload photos on that day. In the last 44 days, I have failed twice to do so.”
Wasifa Noshin says, “My motivation behind taking up the challenge was to see if I can finish something that I start and if there is something to be happy about even on a bad day.”
While some have taken up the challenge sportingly, others believe that this challenge does not successfully measure the abstract nature of happiness. To an extent, it is true that happiness cannot always be captured in photographs. How can one capture the sound of soothing music or the light breeze that touches your face on a hot summer day? Also, for some it becomes a game of haves and have-nots as a number of people start to flaunt that they can “afford” happiness in order to feed their vanity.
Although the challenge might seem easy, the website claims that 71 percent of people taking up the challenge have failed. Those of you who are intending to participate must know that this is not a happiness competition or a show-off contest. At the end of the day, you will only be rewarding yourself with the awareness of the happiness quotient that you have in your life amidst the bunch of complaints that you make every day. In case you are still sceptical and do not want to undergo the hassle, you might start keeping a journal of things that make you happy throughout the day instead. And as for me, there are too many exams this season to be happy. Challenge denied, as simple as that.