The Atlantic Feb 17, 2022 HOW TO BUILD A LIFE “The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age” “Your well-being is like a retirement account: The sooner your invest, the greater your returns will be.” By Arthur C. Brooks
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The author, Arthur Brooks, asks his graduate students, who are typically in their late 20s, “Imagine yourself in 10 years from now. Will you be happier or less happy than you are today?” Most project better happiness going forward but are less “rosy about 50 years from now.” As it is, according to Brooks, our happiness progressively declines to about age 50 but then gets better “into one’s mid-60s.” Further on humanity seems to split into “those getting much happier, and those getting much unhappier.”
Good financial planning has a not surprising impact-those who planned for decades benefit but we also apparently have “something like a ‘Happiness 401(k)’ as well. Happiness too is part of planning and there are “two distinct groups" but otherwise there's plenty of variation. Best are dubbed “‘Happy Well’”, with good physical and mental health and “high life satisfaction”, and the “‘Sad Sick’” having the opposite attributes-below average health and life satisfaction. Happy Well may benefit from inherited attributes like generational wealth that play out as having a happy childhood, “descending from long-lived ancestors, and avoiding clinical depression.”
What practices are mostly in our control? The author cites a Harvard study (2001) that showed we “can control seven”...elements directly.
Don’t smoke. Never too late to quit.
Watch your drinking of alcohol. Get help if you have “any indication of problem drinking” or history of family drinking problems.
Maintain a healthy body weight.
“Prioritize movement in your life by scheduling time for it every day and sticking to it.”
“Practice your coping mechanisms now.” Early on learn to “deal with life’s inevitable distresses” get help to learn best practices.
Keep learning by any means. Learning is beneficial in keeping an “active mind in old age and that means a longer happier life.”
“Do the work to cultivate stable, long-term relationships now.” This is about all types of relationships-a steady marriage, family, activity friends, friends in organizations and even daily acquaintances. “The point is to find people with whom you can grow, whom you can count on, no matter what comes your way.” Relationships are considered the most important of the list of seven. You may not be able to address completely all seven habits, but be sure to engage in relationship building.
Brooks ends this article by stating “Everyone loves a happy ending, especially in the story of their own life. Start writing that ending today.”
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