New research is describing a trend in overall contentment, not just in the US, but worldwide. It's a curve that can be graphed by comparing overall happiness to age. The results, reported in the Washington Post, are eye-opening!

QuoteThis is not just an American quirk. An expanding scholarly research finds similar patterns in many advanced countries. Happiness seems to have a shape — a "U-curve." Life satisfaction falls "for the first couple of decades of adulthood," hits bottom in the late 40s or early 50s "and then, until the very last years, [increases] with age," as Jonathan Rauch writes in the current issue of the Atlantic.

How widespread is the U-curve? Economists David Blanchflower of Dartmouth and Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick examined survey responses about personal well-being in 80 countries and identified the U-curve in 55, with people's average happiness low point occurring at age 46. Carol Graham and Milena Nikolova of the Brookings Institution studied polls for 149 countries and found the U-curve in 80, with an average low point at age 50.

It's odd how I embraced 40 recently.  When I turned 30, I about had a panic stricken breakdown.  Now, I get it and honesty like my age.  If I heard a 40-year old version of myself say that 15 years ago, I would have been horrified that my life would be so miserable that I'd have to lie like that.  I used to think older people who say they like getting older were all liars and were really scared of their mortality.  Now, I really do get it and I love it.  I used to be terrified of the day I couldn't be as strong as I was, or run as fast, or whatever, but now I don't miss it, and can sort of hide behind my age and take pressure off myself in an odd way.

Quote from: taxed on December 09, 2014, 04:59:22 AM
It's odd how I embraced 40 recently.  When I turned 30, I about had a panic stricken breakdown.  Now, I get it and honesty like my age.  If I heard a 40-year old version of myself say that 15 years ago, I would have been horrified that my life would be so miserable that I'd have to lie like that.  I used to think older people who say they like getting older were all liars and were really scared of their mortality.  Now, I really do get it and I love it.  I used to be terrified of the day I couldn't be as strong as I was, or run as fast, or whatever, but now I don't miss it, and can sort of hide behind my age and take pressure off myself in an odd way.

I'm trying to remember embracing 40.... It's been a while.

I'm looking at my 60th birthday next month. The last few years have been rougher than most for me -- losing my dad in 2011 and Mrs. Tbone last year. Bitter pills. The missus was supposed to see me through. She was just 48.

But things really do have a way of sorting themselves out. In spite of the rough patch, I feel better now about myself and my life than I did, say, ten years ago. I'm seeing opportunity today that I couldn't see even five years ago. I'm finding peace where I once found trouble.

I'm like you in one way -- I hate it that I can't still run fast and jump high and work my ass off all the live-long day. I used to hump shingles up  a ladder from sunup to sundown -- for a break, I'd grab a hammer and an apron full of nails and install the damn things. When I worked on the road, I walked 10-12 miles every day, raking and shoveling the whole way. Those days are gone forever. Finally, I am learning to accept that.

Quote from: taxed on December 09, 2014, 04:59:22 AM
It's odd how I embraced 40 recently.  When I turned 30, I about had a panic stricken breakdown.  Now, I get it and honesty like my age.  If I heard a 40-year old version of myself say that 15 years ago, I would have been horrified that my life would be so miserable that I'd have to lie like that.  I used to think older people who say they like getting older were all liars and were really scared of their mortality.  Now, I really do get it and I love it.  I used to be terrified of the day I couldn't be as strong as I was, or run as fast, or whatever, but now I don't miss it, and can sort of hide behind my age and take pressure off myself in an odd way.

I didn't know life had so much to offer, till I hit 40, from being at my physically strongest that decade, to mental acuity.
It was 40 when I started taking myself seriously, not that I didn't before that time, but 40 for some reason seemed to validate everything that made who I was up until that point.

Some people wish to have been young again, but not I, I prefer being older and wiser, not that I've gleaned a whole lot more in the last 20 years since 40, but testosterone is no longer the driving force in how I make decisions, I am now clear of mind.

I digress. The point I was making about a youthful return being a curse if I had to repeat the horrors of a hormonally driven preteen for another 30 years, I'd rather end it now.
But if forced to return to an earlier age given options, I'd definitely choose 40, hands down!

Enjoy it while you can, they're some of the best year in your life, the pinnacle of health and insight, as well as strength and attractiveness.
Yes, 40 was a great time, just wish I'd appreciated it more.

Well, the older I get, the more I notice how so many younger people are welded to their cell phones or other devices. Then I read about the withdrawal by men from more social events, preferring on-line activities. (There's a word for the movement but I can't recall it, not that I myself or you yourselves would EVER engage in such a thing, right?)

Women took over education without a fight and now anything even close to a public education now comes imbibed with hostility toward an entire gender. That's got to be the tipping-point which leads Wally Wallflower to just stay down in Mom's basement.

The older I get, the more I'm glad Wally is less likely to propagate. That makes me delighted.

Quote from: walkstall on December 10, 2014, 12:39:18 PM

Boy, isn't that the truth.

Quote from: quiller on December 09, 2014, 09:03:53 AM
Well, the older I get, the more I notice how so many younger people are welded to their cell phones or other devices. Then I read about the withdrawal by men from more social events, preferring on-line activities. (There's a word for the movement but I can't recall it, not that I myself or you yourselves would EVER engage in such a thing, right?)

Women took over education without a fight and now anything even close to a public education now comes imbibed with hostility toward an entire gender. That's got to be the tipping-point which leads Wally Wallflower to just stay down in Mom's basement.

The older I get, the more I'm glad Wally Wallflower is less likely to propagate. That makes me delighted.

FIFY. We do have a member named Wally who drops in now and then. 

Quote from: walkstall on December 10, 2014, 07:55:04 PM

I believe I was multi-tasking just this morning. The sneezing part, in my experience, can be painful, especially when farting and peeing at the same time.

Quote from: TboneAgain on December 10, 2014, 08:04:23 PM
I believe I was multi-tasking just this morning. The sneezing part, in my experience, can be painful, especially when farting and peeing at the same time.

My dad had a term for a fart sneeze. A Rip Snortin Tear Ass. Granted, I had no idea what he was talking about till I hit my 40s, and OMG!!! Give me a jar of the hottest peppers in the world, and it still pales by comparison to the pain of a "Rip Snortin Tear Ass" fart/sneeze.