Michael Regilio

I know I was convinced I was going to be a rock star when I grew up, which made me an extremely happy teenager.

buy a lot yeah absolutely so that I mean youth is happy but then we hit midlife and trust me there is a reason that when you say midlife the first word people think of is crisis because happiness declines through the 30s and 40s and usually bottoms out somewhere between early 40s and early 50s

That's a rather dark way to look at it, which you're 46 years old, so we'll call that Exhibit A for stress maxing out midlife.

You're not wrong.

The good news is that after about 50, happiness starts to rise again and often keeps climbing into the 70s, even as health declines.

I don't know.

I mean, a few things seem to be going on.

Let's start with expectation adjustment.

As people get older, they recalibrate what they want from life.

Fewer grand fantasies, more appreciation for what they have.

Emotional regulation also improves.

People get better at avoiding unnecessary conflict and letting go of things that don't matter.

And time perspective shifts.

When time starts to feel finite, people start to prioritize relationships and meaning over status and achievement.

Yeah.

But you will remember that I said the happiness reverse bell curve was a constant in sociological studies from around the world.

Yep.

You're 100 percent right.

And let's start at the very beginning, literally the beginning of life.

There's not much debate when it comes to screen time for very young kids, and that is because of how learning actually works.