We all think that age only brings misery. It is true that as you get older you experience changes that could be perceived as being negative. At age 20, the possibilities seem endless. You have your whole life ahead of you. Most of the times, you have little responsibilities, freedom and dreams about the future. You are at the top of your physical and mental shape
As you start getting older and your responsibilities increase, you lose this sense of freedom, you become more realistic about your dreams and you realise that maybe you won’t achieve some of the goals you once set for yourself.
Oddly enough, though, many studies show that the level of happiness increases as we age. After reading that, I asked people around me if they thought they were happier at 20. It seems like it really varies from one person to the next. Maybe it depends on your present circumstances. If you’re going through a difficult time in your life, you might view your past as being rosier than your present. It could also be that we associate happiness to youth to such an extent that when we think of our own past, we imagine ourselves in a state of happiness far greater than how we really felt.
Ageing is feared by many of us, yet it has many benefits. If I look at my own life, as I’m getting older, I feel like I’m getting happier. At 20, you don’t know who you are. You have the need to prove yourself constantly. You care a lot about what other people think of you. When you are suffering, you haven’t experienced enough pain to know that time really heals all wounds, so your suffering is more intense. Your happiness is also much more linked to your status and external elements.
As you get older, or wiser, you learn that inner happiness is far more durable, so you really start working on improving your inner self. You learn to let go. You get to know your strengths and you accept your weaknesses. You are able to focus on what’s important to you and you stop dispersing your energy like a chicken without a head.
Happiness is not easy to assess. Every one goes through fluctuations in their state of happiness that greatly depends on factors that are beyond their control. Probably, some people were happier at 20 than at 40. The matter of the fact is that ageing is part of life, and although it comes with transformations that we might dislike (wrinkles, body change, mental sharpness, etc.), it can also come with the acquisition of wisdom, which can definitely help lead the way to a more balanced and happy life.
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