Comments on: Are older people happier?

By: Bob From Virginia

Bob From Virginia — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:32:26 +0000

When asked why she was happy, a 104 year old woman answered, “no peer pressure”.

By: J.J. formerly Jimmy J.

J.J. formerly Jimmy J. — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:04:50 +0000

Many thanks for your kind words – betsyb, neo, Mrs. Whatsit.

I have a friend whose wife is in a nursing home with alzheimers. He has COPD and, though able to live alone and do the necessities, his life is quite restricted. Some days he rages away and I listen because he needs to get that out of his system. Then for many days he goes along as if everything was fine. Every where I look I see heroes and heroines marching along the path we all must tread. Some say that old age is not for sissies and that seems an apt saying.

I have accepted that there are many answers we will never know and that, whether it is apparent to me or not, the Universe is, no doubt, unfolding as it should. And that includes our present troubles here in the home of the brave, land of the free. Maybe that is part of the secret to being happy in old age.

By: Mrs Whatsit

Mrs Whatsit — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:06:37 +0000

Steve G and JJ, my deepest sympathies.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:19:03 +0000

JJ: my sympathies on your loss, as well. A terrible thing to have to endure.

On the other hand—at least, if some of the mega-elderly people I know are any indication—quite a few people get happier in extreme old age. Not sure why, but I’ve seen it a number of times.

By: betsybounds

betsybounds — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:52:33 +0000

J.J., you and your wife have my greatest sympathy for the loss of your son. I do not know how one goes on after that. I think it must be the hardest of things, to survive one’s child.

I am so glad you were both brought through.

The old folks’ home–well, that’ll be another test in a life that is full of tests, won’t it. In some ways, old age is a process rather than a stage, just like the earlier bits.

Anyway, my husband and I are pretty happy right now.

By: J.J. formerly Jimmy J.

J.J. formerly Jimmy J. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:18:24 +0000

A high school friend wrote me the other day and asked what I thought it would be like to go back to the 50s and live in our little home town (800 people) in the Colorado Rockies. It didn’t take me long to decide it would be just short of Heaven. But then we were young, strong, full of hope, energy, and leaped out of bed looking forward to each new day. The world and its troubles seemed much more distant than today. The Korean War was going, and we were certainly going in the service as soon as we finished school. That prospect seemed not that awful at the time. Anyway we climbed mountains, skied, fished, hunted, and awkwardly chased after our teen loves. It was a marvelous time and I’m very thankful for the memories.

My wife of 54 years and I are still doing things together and we’re even better friends than we were when we were younger. We’ve got our health issues but nothing yet life threatening. It looks like, unless Nancy, Harry and our POTUS decide to confiscate our IRAs, we’ll have enough money to pay our bills for another few years. We are engaged with life and I’d say we are happy, but not markedly more so than we were at an earlier age.

Our son was killed 31 years ago and that is a shadow that never quite goes away. It does not mean the end of happiness, but for a number of years after his death we struggled to regain a sense of peace and inner joy. Faith, not giving in to hopelessness, and trying to see the good in life around us brought us through.

Check in with me in ten years when I may be sitting in an old folks home having to be fed and dressed by someone else. That’ll be the test of my happiness in old age.

By: Sadie

Sadie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:18:49 +0000

Aging doesn’t make you less happy or cranky, it only reinforces what you were 30 years ago.

By: Steve G

Steve G — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:57:48 +0000

ALthough I was a very happy camper, and growing happier with the years, my happiness died 5 years ago, the day my wife of 38 years died. Now I grumpily go along to get along, just to pass the time.

By: ConceptJunkie

ConceptJunkie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:57:52 +0000

I think it’s reasonable to assume that older people get happier because they realize all the reasons they have to be happy and also realize all the reasons they used to have for not being happy are not necessarily valid. Also, most people figure out more things as they get older and therefore can do the right things to help themselves be happy.

Me? With a wife and four kids, two of them teenagers and the other two close, I don’t have the time nor energy to be unhappy.

I was going to make a joke comparing Nancy Pelosi to Clara Peller, but realized that would be an insult to the late Ms. Peller, who charmed us with her iconic phrase.