As fellow blogger Singapore MD struggles with disillusionment, I came across this interesting article in The Economist entitled "The U-bend of life". The article is well worth a read.Apparently, contrary to general perceptions, old people are happier, and get happier as they age.
"When people start out on adult life, they are, on average, pretty cheerful. Things go downhill from youth to middle age until they reach a nadir commonly known as the mid-life crisis. So far, so familiar. The surprising part happens after that. Although as people move towards old age they lose things they treasure—vitality, mental sharpness and looks—they also gain what people spend their lives pursuing: happiness."
So the bad news is if you are heading towards middle-age, things may get a whole lot worse before looking up again. The good news however, is that it will get better!
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4 comments:
Trust me, if u r an unhappy person to begin with, things won't get better as u grow older. However, if u are quite balanced or reasonably happy in your younger days, things will definitely get better. That's y we say "aged to perfection"... :)
no....methinks if you are unhappy to begin with you'll get more unhappy in mid-life and then less unhappy as you get older ...
:)
Have a blessed Christmas, AuntieL!
There is a phenomenon called Middlescence
Quite right.... :)
Earliest reference to the term in PubMed is:
Middlescence: age related stress periods during adult years.
Horrocks JE, Mussman MC.
Genet Psychol Monogr. 1970 Nov;82(2):119
Pity almost no organization, and certainly none of the hospitals here, have a strategy to deal with this very common problem that generates so much wastage in human capital.
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