Someone told me once that the 50s are the new 30s these days and that 50 somethings (like me) can count on a decade of happiness and joy of life much like a 30 year old. Bah Humbug. This surely ain’t so. Because 50 somethings suddenly inherit all kinds of requirements around health, diet, maintenance, and return visits to doctors, dentists, people that do scans in evil places, and eye doctors. But, it appears that this report seems to hint that we can count on happier times in our 60s and 70s. I say “Yeah, right”; but it seems that there are some gems of truth. Witness this:
What’s their secret to aging happily? Good health and a decent standard of living don’t hurt — but those factors don’t play as big a part as you might think, researchers say. The truth is, people generally get happier as they age, said Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and a professor of psychology at Stanford University.
So, richness and health contribute but may not be the main factors. Instead we all get happier as we get older! I don’t really know about that. I don’t think I am unhappier but perhaps what’s really meant is that the condition of happiness changes and what would make a 30 year old happy is not necessarily what makes a 60 year old happy. Perhaps, just perhaps, the actual definitions of these things subtly change and we mean a different thing at 50 than a 20 year old means.
That would be unique and kind of fit into the ever-changing, evolving, and widening circles that our lives cast as we move through them. Work at 50 something is very challenging and in fact I can see where I work a number of older workers that contribute, provide, and deliver. That’s a good thing. But perhaps its like what my little daughter animal once told me when I asked what she wanted to be when she grew up and she responded with true maturity and wisdom beyond her years:
I wanna be older
