The old adage is true: Money really can’t buy you happiness.
But as it turns out, youth can.
According to a recent Gallup Poll, young adults (18-29 years old) currently have the highest standard of living in the United States, ranking nearly ten points above those individuals with $90K+ annual household income.
The age group with the lowest standard of living? Those between the ages of 50 and 64 years.
While the current state of the economy is likely an influential factor in these results, previous Gallup Polls have consistently found young Americans to be “the most positive about their standard of living since Gallup began tracking Americans’ ratings of it” (Gallup, 2011). While Gallup acknowledges that most young adults do not have the same strenuous financial responsibilities as older generation Americans, their implications state, “Young adults’ more positive standard of living evaluation may also reflect youthful optimism about their economic future.”
Youthful optimism.
This concept comes as no surprise to those familiar with similar research. Dr. Madan Kataria, author of Laugh For No Reason, has found that, in terms of how we express our happiness through laughter, children far out-quantify adults. “Children laugh over 300 times a day whereas adults laugh only 15 times,” states Kataria.
In a society where maturity and professionalism are widely valued among adults, reason restrains free flowing laughter. After all, in the eyes of adults, if there is no adequate ground upon which laughter can originate, than there is no logical reason to laugh. Kataria further states, “children laugh unconditionally while adults only do so if there is a cause.”
We’ve long been taught that laughter is contagious. And with several studies implicating the numerous health benefits of laughter (laughter being frequently dubbed as “the body’s biological drug store”), it’s a wonder why adults aren’t more often seeking this universal gift.
What I’m trying to get at is this: rather than allowing ourselves to be anchored down by the weight of the seriousness of adulthood, I think we can all learn a lesson from the youth that we have somehow ventured from. We are never too old. Never too old to enjoy the nostalgia of our childhood. Never too old to find joy in the simplicity of the things that brought us joy year ago. And certainly never too old to revisit the ambitions we may have long ago laid to rest.
This past June, National Public Radio highlighted a story featuring Leo Plass, who recently graduated years after being forced to drop out of college just three credits short of a degree due to financial troubles. Leo Plass returned to college and received the long-awaited degree at 99 years of age.
According to Plass, “It was really something out of this world.”
Around the same time Plass was graduating college for the first time, 99-year-old Gilbert Herrick married for the very first time. Herrick told reporters that he “never found the right girl til [he] found her.” His new wife, Virginia, added, “We both feel we’re gonna have a good time no matter what. So if it’s something we’re too frail to do it too bad, we’re going to do it anyway” (NBC News).
Even though both of these stories exemplify the far end of the age spectrum, they reinforce the statement that, while a number may illustrate age, spirit and enthusiasm truly reflect how old an individual is.
So you’re never too old to…
Lick the bottom of the bowl. Go back to school. Start a new hobby. Learn a new language. Laugh for no reason. Eat pancakes at midnight. Read Dr. Seuss. Fall in love. Search for a new job. Volunteer. Stay up all night. Play hide-and-seek. Run through sprinklers. Write a book. Teach yourself to cook. Swing. Go camping. Sing in the shower. Make a snowman.
Reclaim your youth. After all, it once belonged to you.
Song recommendation: “You Could Be Swingin’ on a Star” – Bing Crosby
