I am no fan of the « look young » society we live in, and I feel no fear about growing old. My beleif is that each stage of life has its advantages and disadvantages – and it is more fun to focus on the advantages… One of the advantages, is that we have more experience as we grow older, and with that a selection to choose from when looking for solutions to problems, at work or in private life. I also think that we feel more « free » as we become less worried about what other’s think about us.
Back in my recruitment days, I showed faith in the woman in her fifties who had stayed home with children and was about to re-enter the professional life. I knew that she would arrive at work on time, show interest in her work (even the boring tasks), be loyal and hardly ever be away from work. I had great difficulty in understanding those who did not want to hire people in their fifties. They did not understand what they said no to, I beleive. And yesterday, that thought was confirmed, as I read an interesting article that I want to share with you. According to a study, that can be read on The Economist, « The greyer the world gets, the brighter it becomes ». And not only that; older people are more happy. The global average of UNhappiness is at the age of 46 (I still have a few years to go..) and after that the happiness factor increases. This factor is influenced by gender, personality, external circumstances and age. Very briefly summarized on that note; women tend to be more happy than men (but also more depressed). Extraverts tend to be more happy than intraverts. External circumstances; e.g do we have enough money to get by, influence the feeling of happiness, and at older age we tend to have more money and the children are out of the house (probably less worry).
I would highly recommend to read the article from The Economist to understand more about why older people are more happy. Here’s the link: http://www.economist.com/node/17722567?story_id=17722567
Happy reading!
