I was out to lunch with my family the other day when a group of young (college age) kids sat at the table next to us. They were having fun, enjoying the company of one another, taking pictures together, then spending equal amounts of time in solitude on their phones.
My wife and I observed them (they were literally three feet from us), overheard their conversations (topics included friendships and relationships) and took it all in.
Our conclusion…it looked hard to be 20. It looked like it took EFFORT just to be around friends, to try to fit in, to say the right thing, to agree with the right person.
Our observation started a conversation between my wife and I about how we wouldn’t want go back and live our 20’s all over again, how being young person looked more difficult than ever, and how we are getting happier as the years go by.
I know, without a doubt, I’m happier now (age 40) than I was in my mid and early thirties. I was also happier in my mid-thirties than I was in my mid-twenties.
Here are my questions…
Does it stop? At what age does a person start to get less happy than he or she was before?
Is it this way for everyone? Is everyone happier (I know I keep repeating the word happy and everyone has their own definition of “happy”) at their current age than they were a decade before?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on why or why not this is the case for you.
