Happiness: Older we get happier we become
October 10, 2007
Contrary to popular opinion, people do not get crankier the older they get. People who grow more unhappy as they age were likely unhappy when they were young.
Peter A. Ubel, author of You’re Stronger Than You Think: Tapping the Secrets of Emotionally Resilient People, has spent years researching coping skills and how different people deal with the inevitable adversities they will face as they live life.
According to Ubel, once we reach the other side of adversity, we tend to bounce back into the degree of happiness we felt before the challenging event.
Ideally, the longer we live the more we learn. With that wisdom comes contentment. As a result, the older most folks get the happier they become.
While contentment is not the roller coaster high of ecstatic happiness, it is a constant happiness that can be counted on day in and day out. The highs are not as frequent, but the lows are not as nearly as low either. A new definition is emerging in what aging means and what to expect in later years, from something to be dreaded, to something to be celebrated.