During my long run today, I listened to the latest episode of Sally McRae’s podcast where she asked the question, “Do you think your best days are behind you, or ahead of you?”
My gut reaction was, “AHEAD!” That was apparently the direction Sally was going, because she talked about having hope and big goals. But Eddie (her husband and cohost) said something like “Well, when I was younger my back didn’t hurt, so I wouldn’t mind going back there.”
It got me thinking… why do I think my best days are still ahead? When I really delve into it, there were pros and cons to all the phases of my adult life.
In my 20s I was working as a musician. I traveled all over the US and Europe, lived in New York City, and generally had a lot of fun. But there was a lot of angst in those years as well- I had some big breakups, struggled with loneliness, and a general lack of self-confidence.
In my early 30s I set all my running PRs, from the 5K to the marathon. I met my husband when I was 34 and we got married the following year. We also moved to Florida, and I made a career change. My husband likes to joke that I joined the witness protection program- changed my job, location and name all in the course of a year. When I was 36 my son was born, and I became a stay-at-home mom.
In my 40s I was just getting my bearings when, at the age of 42, I had the very happy surprise of finding myself pregnant again. The rest of my 40s were tumultuous. I dealt with a very difficult toddler, lost both my parents, and finally went back to work as a massage therapist.
50s! I can honestly say that, while there are still ups and down, my 50s have been the best decade so far. One of the big reasons is that I care so much less about what other people think of me. There’s actually research to support this- post-menopausal women generally report a lack of concern about other people’s opinions.
There’s also something to be said about being “older and wiser.” I can look back on some very difficult situations in my life with a new perspective. I can better understand what motivated some challenging people in my life, and I’m able to be kinder to “past Jenny” who I can now appreciate was doing the very best she could at the time.
I guess that’s why I have optimism about the future. And, there’s more research that shows people generally do get happier as they age. People in their 50s are happier than people in their 40s, 60s are happier again, 70s happier still, and then 80s and beyond depends on health. I imagine you continue to get happier unless you have debilitating health issues, in which case I suppose life starts to, well…kind of suck.
What do you think? Are you getting happier the older you get?
Do you think your best days are behind you, or ahead of you?
Top photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
One Response
Here’s to our best days being ahead of us! I feel like my life is easier now that my three kids are adults. Plus financially we are a lot better off (a combination of the business doing well and not having the kid expenses) But the days with the kids, even though they were hard were still good, so such a hard question. I’m still hoping to be able to get some PB’s in running—one of the perks of taking up running when you’re older, and if I can just finish a marathon, I’ll get a PB.