Until the current generation, happiness was generally a u-shaped curve, with happiness going down around their early 20’s and coming back up around the 60’s.

Gen Alpha doesn’t seem to have a happy childhood.

Not necessarily. I’ve been getting happier and happier over time, even despite the world getting shittier. Of course there still are problems, but I’m fairly sure i can fix those over time as well.

Though that might be more from that my childhood wasn’t that great, not the worst physical abuse either, but not a normal one either with a dash of psychological and emotional abuse and minimal support, only what’s required by the law.

So getting older, getting nore comfortable within my body and figuring myself out, stuff which usually is done in childhood and teenage years in a safe and supportive environment, has been helpful in making life more comfortable and having more control over my own life, which ultimately allowes me to make life more comfortable for myself and become happier.

I’m in my 70’s. I feel I’ve been getting happier over time. Kids grow up and leave, Work becomes stable. Finances become more stable. When you retire, it’s like a whole new life (as long as you plan it correctly).

if you’re from a loving, supportive family: Yes for a time you can get unhappy as you age. You get more and more responsibilities. And by Responsibilities I mean you are expected to do things without praise. Like taking care of yourself and then a family. No one claps for you getting groceries or taking out the garbage. (Though if your in an abusing family this is very different : you can get happier as you get closer to the age to escape)

Then, once you adapt to this and you become self reliant for approval, it gets easier. You get happier in more self sustaining ways in which you get hobbies. Embrace the freedom of choices.

Then one day responsibilities get lighter. Like maybe someone who’s been very reliant on you develops their own independence and leaves.

And then you’re even more happier than ever. Happy for them. You helped get them there and grow. Also happy for yourself as you get more free time to do stuff for you.

Like imagine being that person you wanted to grow up to be as child with no parents or other responsibilities to stop you from doing things you wanted to do. And the best thing: you have the confidence and life story to know you’re entirely capable now.

That’s if you’re doing this self development thing right.

I’ve known ppl who don’t ever develop personal acceptance and end up in earlier life cycles of constant dependencies on others around them and bouncing back into depression. constantly reliving a specific age: like remarriage / recapture a prom night experience / doing something just to get dad approval like that’s the happiest they ever could be. And it always includes seeking approval. Someone else has to be a centric piece to their happiness. Someone else always has to act a part.

Tldr: Look after your mental health. Roll the hard six. Sometimes discomfort is growth. If this is something you can’t live with: talk to a professional to help you get there cuz this is part of being human and your brain will trick you into doing some meaningless, wasteful shit if you don’t trick it first.

It’s less about age and more about our ability to take care of our responsibilities. As children, we have few, and taking care of them takes little time and is easy. As we grow we get more and more, and if our abilities don’t grow in tandem we become stressed and unhappy. It’s easy to find yourself in a situation as a young adult where you have lots of responsibilities and not enough time, money, and training to discharge all of them. Similarly in middle age if you haven’t kept upskilling and you find yourself outclassed professionally by younger professionals.

Some ways to fight this are by keeping your lifestyle simple and inexpensive; by constantly seeking to improve; by being parsimonious with your social commitments; and by building a network of mutually supportive friends and colleagues who can help you during sudden spikes of need or sudden dropoffs in ability, such as unexpected illness.

I’m in my late 40s now, and I’ve been getting happier as I get older.

This is a difficult question to answer in a generic sense because right now there are a lot of external factors that are progressively making people unhappier and it’s not really to do with age.

You either die young or live long enough for everyone you care and love about to pass away.

Cult upbringing aside, I had a good and loving family. They were genuinely doing the best with what they knew. I’ll never fault them for that.

All my real damage came from being an adult, in a world that was radically more dangerous and difficult than my sheltered upbringing prepared me for. And that damage is cumulative. We just gather more of it as we survive more shit through the decades.

No, for most people there is a low point in their midlife somewhere, then progressively happier once past that.

I’ve never been as unhappy as an adult, as I was when a child. My least happy adult time was my 30s, and from there it’s been all upward. I’m sure once I am old old there will be health shit to worry about, but for now it’s easier to be happy than it was before, and I have seen research showing that is typical.

There are many people who never find a moment of peace in their lives and may become more vocal as they age. For most people, in my observation, there comes a point where they move past their easier life and live with a sense of peace or accomplishment.

Very much no, it’s easier to be happy when you’re older if you do the work to be happy in general. Being happy and naive to your surroundings isn’t the same as being aware of your situation and confident in yourself.

I’ve become progressively more apathetic as I’ve aged. The highs aren’t as high, but the lows aren’t as low either.

I think that you have a lot of agency over how you live your life and what you do, which has a huge impact on your happiness.

There is no general answer here, just try to do more things that you know are good for you and make you happy. Eat healthier, stay reasonably fit, get a good and consistent sleep cycle (this has a huge hormonal impact on your happiness). Enjoy good art, make meaningful connections, if you are angry about the state of the world, try to revolt.

the older you get, the more health problems you have, and let me tell you, health problems can make you involuntarily unhappy.