How Happy Are You?

I recently heard about a study by Live Science that ranked the 50 states by how happy its citizens are.

I was just in Florida this week for Spring Break and I wasn't at all surprised to find that Florida was ranked the 3rd happiest state in the U.S. Everyone was so friendly, outgoing, and helpful. (Maybe it's because they knew we were tourists and they were making money off us, but either way they were nice)

However I was shocked to hear that Ohio was ranked 44th.

I'm surprised, but I'm not. I would consider myself an overall happy person; but at the same time I'd say I'm unhappy living in Ohio. I was much happier being in Florida this past week, which begs the question: does weather REALLY influence our moods and overall happiness in such drastic ways??

I blogged about a month ago about how the dreary and hazy January days were just bleeding together and making me depressed, so I'm a believer in the fact that cold weather can really bring down one's spirit.

For those of you who are curious, New York was ranked 51st in the list (they counted D.C. as a state in this study) and Louisiana was ranked 1st.

Are you happy in Ohio? Would you rather live anywhere else?? Do you think weather has anything to do with it?

Smiley face image taken from http://www.stickergiant.com/Merchant2/imgs/450/ss35_450.jpeg