Happiness is… making every minute count

A few months ago, Nick Cave went on ’s Newsnight. Near the end of the programme, the interviewer Kirsty Wark quoted Cave’s wife – fashion designer Susie Bick – back to him. ‘Your wife Susie says it takes great courage to be happy.’

The 65-year-old singer looked slightly startled. ‘Did she say that? Huh, she’s clever.’ Wark confirmed that, yes, Bick had said that, and Cave paused, thought about it, then spoke. ‘It’s a defiant position, happiness, and it’s hard earned. It’s a deep thing. I don’t think there is such a thing as simple happiness. I think you lift the lid and there’s all sorts of stuff going on underneath a person’s ability to be optimistic about the world. So, I agree with her. I agree with everything she says.’

Cassie Holmes agrees too. ‘There’s some grit involved in happiness,’ she says. ‘It’s not this flippant, easy thing that you move through effortlessly. It does require strength and we have agency in it. And, ultimately, it is a choice.’