… research has even been carried out into the happiness of
chimpanzees with remarkably similar outcomes.
For me personally, the even better news is that the average low-point on
the happiness curve (for humans, at least) is the age of forty-eight and right
now, yours truly is the grand old age of … forty-eight! I have everything crossed that I don’t buck
the trend and that around about now, I am turning a corner and am on the way
back to a happiness-high! The podcast on
which I first heard about the happiness curve explained that for many of us it
is understandable why rock-bottom would hit at about this age: for parents, it’s
when children might be flying the nest; many of us are confronting significant family
bereavement; we might lose the companionship of a first pet; we could be far
enough into a career to be questioning it; we may be experiencing new and
unwelcome physical challenges. It’s obvious
really. Suddenly, the verve of youth
seems a shockingly distant memory, the term ‘middle-age’ has shocking relevance
and the prospect of our own mortality – while still disturbing – comes as less
of a shock. Crisis? What crisis?!
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