Elderly Happiness

Elderly Happiness: What Makes Older People Happy

Elderly Happiness – How do you achieve it? Some of us may long for the experiences of youth and the things that made us happy when we were younger. Fond memories rekindle feelings we had when enjoying new experiences (extraordinary experiences) in our youth. However, a report scheduled for publication this year in The Journal of Consumer Research, finds the kinds of experiences that make people happy tend to change over time:

“Younger people, who view the future as extensive, gain more happiness from extraordinary experiences; however, ordinary experiences are increasingly associated with happiness as people get older, such that ordinary experiences produce as much happiness as extraordinary experiences.”

That is, what brings elderly happiness or happiness as we age are the ordinary daily events that make up the fabric of our lives. “Although extraordinary experiences are self-defining throughout life, as people get older they increasingly define themselves by the ordinary experiences that comprise their daily lives.”

A recent New York Times article discussed the findings of the report as such, “When we’re young and believe we have a long future ahead … we prefer extraordinary experiences outside the realm of our day-to-day routines. But when we’re older and believe that our time is limited, we put more value on ordinary experiences, the stuff of which our daily lives are made, therefore achieving elderly happiness.

Why? For young people trying to figure out who they want to become, extraordinary experiences help establish personal identities and are therefore prized, said Amit Bhattacharjee, the lead author of the study and a visiting assistant professor of marketing at Dartmouth College. As people become more settled, ordinary experiences become central to a sense of self and therefore more valued.”

As we age, we become comfortable with who we are and what live has to offer. We tend to truly enjoy the simple things in life and not take the general comforts of our daily routine for granted. Routine brings us happiness and appreciation. And that’s a good thing.

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