Ah… could optimism be the key to personal development and happiness? It could well be. In addition to having an impact on physical health, it allows better management of stress, anxiety, the ups and downs of life and also ensures the development of greater self-esteem and self-confidence.
However, as we age and the years pass, it can sometimes be difficult to maintain this positive state of mind. So much so that some people wonder if they can be happy after 80. A study looked into the subject and the result is surprising. As crazy as it may sound, older people will, over time, become happier.
The happiness curve according to the years
Jonathan Rauch, author de The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, decided to map happiness over time and showed that it takes the shape of a “U”. What we discover is that happiness levels are generally high in your 20s: “it gradually declines, reaching its lowest point at in our fifties, before beginning a slow and steady climb into the 50 to 55 age group.”
According to another study, conducted by the British Office for National Statistics and reported by author and professor Meg Selig interviewed by Psychology Today : it is possible to be happy after 70 years. In this report, we discover that the happiness curve fell at age 50 and began to increase again in the 50-54 age group, before reaching a peak at age 70. Even if studies do not go beyond the age of 70, everything suggests that the rate of life satisfaction is increasing.
How to succeed in being happy?
According to Meg Selig, interviewed by the specialized media, to ensure a fulfilling and happy life, you must: savor the present moment, take advantage of nature and the simple pleasures that it can offer, practice gratitude, mutual aid and surround yourself with loved ones. Easy, right?
The specialist shared her method for savoring each moment of her life and this involves putting things into perspective: “When the day gets tough and my mind turns into a cauldron of negative emotions, I remember all the good things in my life, including the basics: I’m alive, I’m relatively healthy, I have food on the table and a roof over my head, and I am surrounded by family and friends.”
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