Breaking Down The Number Five Thousand on the 5000th Day of Happiness

The approximate lifespan of an adult mayfly is maybe 2 days.

The average pregnancy for a human lasts around 280 days. 

The Empire State Building was built in 410 days.

A standard American presidential term lasting four years will take 1,461 days.

Assuming no absences and 180 days per school year, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, a student in the United States will spend 2,340 days in school. 

Construction began on the Roman Colosseum in 72 AD and finished in 80 AD, approximately 2,920 days. 

NASA launched New Horizons Spacecraft on January 19, 2006 and it reached Pluto on July 14, 2015, 3,463 days later.

Boyhood, the groundbreaking Richard Linklater movie, was filmed over the course of twelve years, or around 4,380 days.

In preparation for my 5000th consecutive day of Happiness, I did some research. How long does it take Jupiter to rotate around the sun? (4,333 days) How long did it take to build the Eiffel Tower? (795 days)

How long does it take the Earth to complete one full rotation on its axis? Technically 23.9 hours. Essentially 1 day. 

How many days before I realized I was changing my life?

I started recording Happiness is on November 9, 2011, when I was 17-years-old. At some point today, I will post my 5000th. 

Five thousand days is over thirteen and a half years. When I began researching different time segments, I learned that many trees (like oaks or maples) grow from a small sapling to their first significant flowering in 10 – 15 years. It seemed devastatingly on the nose, but alas accurate.

Day 1: Happiness is.. those perfect car rides where the radio just plays all the right songs.

On that windy road in my hometown, I was gifted a seed. Happiness is.. 

And over the course of the last 5,000 days, I’ve nurtured it. Even though my soil didn’t initially feel healthy. Even when I felt like I was running out of water. Even when the environment around me felt unforgiving. One simple action. One daily reminder.

As part of our 5000th Day of Happiness celebration, we asked our community to send us their happy memories in photographs and videos. [Watch part 1 here.] I then spent hours matching their submissions to my Happiness posts. I started with a keyword: “beach; dog; friend; cake.” And then I’d pull the “Happiness is” as well as the date and the day number. And then… I’d remember.

I would find the perfect “Happiness is” to match someone’s photo—a seemingly universal joy about an event or a feeling or a location—and then I’d look at the date and be hit with a wave of nostalgia. 

December 2015… that’s the month I graduated college!

June 2018… the month I quit my job for The Smile Project Road Trip!

October 2021… I remember that wedding! 

And on it went, 5,000 days of my life spilling out before me… reflected in joy.

For my 30th birthday, my sister-in-law got me one of those notebooks where you answer the same question every day for five years. Today—July 17—the question is: “how can you help?” Last year, I wrote, “I think one of the best things I can do is stay committed to The Smile Project and keep writing. Keep sharing my story.” 

This year, I wrote about Day 5,000 and then added, “this is how we change the world.”

Because it does change the world doesn’t it? 

It changed me. It changed my world. 

“Happiness is” has outlived romantic partners and platonic friendships. It has been with me longer than any educational system. It’s seen me through many apartments and even more roommates. It’s outlasted every career and volunteer endeavor I’ve ever had. 

It’s the greatest relationship of my adult life… the most steady and consistent and surefire thing I’ve ever known. Every day. No matter what. There will be joy. 

Despite all my fun-with-numbers at the beginning of this blog, I am still having a hard time conceptualizing what 5,000 means. But perhaps—despite my thirteen and a half years of wordsmithing—I remain up against something that cannot be defined. 

But it can be felt. 

Felt in the way I move through the world and the way I whole-heartedly believe in a friendly universe. Felt in the way I find gratitude effortless and the way joy feels all-encompassing. Felt in the way Happiness carried me through the darkest times… and the way it stays with me even now.  

I don’t know what happens next. And as a planner, I don’t always like that. But one thing is beyond certain. At some point tomorrow, I will pick up my journal and I will log in to social media. And I will type “Day 5001” and I will share Happiness.