When I first created a little dose of happy (aldohappy), I chose a bright, clear blue* without overthinking it. It just felt right. Tranquil. Calming. Like looking at water on a peaceful day.

blue sky over beautiful blues of the ocean

But as a little dose of happy evolved, I started noticing that the water metaphor runs deeper than I initially realized. Much deeper.

Why Blue, Not Yellow?

You might wonder: why blue? Happiness is usually represented by bright yellow, think: sunshine, smiley faces, bursts of joy.

Don’t get me wrong, those moments of bright happiness are wonderful!

But they’re fleeting. They’re peaks, not baselines.

a little dose of happy isn’t about chasing extreme highs. It’s about sustainable happiness. The kind that lasts. The kind you can maintain even on ordinary days, even when life is hard.

Blue feels like that to me. Not the explosive joy of yellow, but the calm contentment of looking at water. Peace. Groundedness. Something you can return to again and again without burning out.

Sustainable happiness isn’t a burst of sunshine—it’s the steady, reliable presence of water.

(Want to explore the science behind blue and happiness? Check out our article on how the blue aesthetic inspires happiness.)

Water in Small Doses

The phrase “a little dose of happy” has always been central to this framework. And water? Water is something we need in small, consistent doses too.

You can’t drink a gallon of water at once. You’d get sick. Your body can’t process it. It’s overwhelming.

But consistent sips throughout the day? That keeps you hydrated. That’s sustainable. That’s what keeps you functioning.

This is exactly how behavioral activation works.

You can’t fix your entire life overnight. You can’t force yourself to be happy all at once. Trying to do everything at once leads to burnout, to drowning in your own good intentions.

But small actions, consistently? Those add up. Those become habits. Those transform your life without overwhelming you.

What Water Teaches Us

The more I think about it, the more layers I see:

Water is Essential for Survival

Just like we can’t live without water, we can’t truly thrive without caring for ourselves and others. Empathy, kindness, connection—these aren’t luxuries. They’re necessities.

Water is Flexible

Water takes the shape of whatever container it’s in. It flows around obstacles. It finds a way forward.

Behavioral activation is the same. It adapts to your life, not some rigid system. One approach doesn’t work? Try another. The path is blocked? Flow around it.

Water is Persistent

Drops of water, over time, carve through stone. Rivers reshape entire landscapes, not through force, but through consistency.

Your small daily actions might feel insignificant today. But over months and years? They reshape everything.

Water Connects

Rivers connect distant places. Water cycles through everything on Earth. We’re mostly made of water ourselves.

Caring works the same way. When you learn to care for yourself, it ripples outward. To your loved ones. To your community. To strangers you’ll never meet.

Water Refreshes

After a hard day, a glass of cold water is one of the simplest pleasures. It cleanses. It cools. It brings you back to yourself.

This is what a little dose of happy aims to be: small moments of refreshment in the midst of difficulty. Not denying the hard stuff, but offering relief and restoration.

The Danger of Too Much Water

Here’s what people don’t always talk about with self-improvement and mental health: you can have too much of a good thing.

Toxic positivity harms people. Being told to “just be happy” all the time is suffocating. Forcing yourself to do everything perfectly, all at once, leads to burnout.

The key is in the dose.

Small, manageable actions. Consistent but not overwhelming. Enough to sustain you, not enough to drown you.

This is why behavioral activation works: it’s about doing what you can, when you can, in doses your life can actually handle.