Takes time to be happy

By now, we all read about the study which links age and happiness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.html

This finding at first seems counter-intuitive i.e. young bikinis and surfers on the beach would be perceived as happier

than old folks hiding behind their umbrellas and paperbacks.

Yet here it is. Data don’t lie.

Yet businesses still run with the industrial mind-set: targeting young people in the hope to optimize Customer Lifetime Value.

(McDonald is recalling Shrek glasses, their hidden persuaders).

Hello! There is a whole generation of boomers with thick wallets (Paul McCartney mentioned that there were billions of us rooting for Obama).

Demographic data don’t lie.

This group is nearing retirement. Pension checks. Traveling. Comfy clothes. And “to Hell” attitude.

However they have been perceived ( as being expired and expelled from the rat race), this study shows they are happier than when they had longer hair

(Brokaw interviewed the Woodstock blanket-wrapped couple who are currently still living nearby the original site, and found that they still live the magic of music).

Adjusted expectations. No more Bo Derek (in 10) or Jane Fonda’s aerobics. They settle for whatever lot they found themselves in.

Contentment.

And by now, they have come to terms with their range, and their rage. Even the Gores finally split.

In stages of grief, they definitely reached Acceptance.

The point is, everyone has taken their road less traveled.

And on that road, they negotiated and settled for a new definition of happiness.

With age, like wine, comes authenticity, wisdom and patience.

I would be very happy to trade some of my vices for those virtues.

And in some culture, like mine for instance, virtues are the end games.