According to Andrew Oswald of Warwick University I should be at an all time low. I am 44 and have been now for 16 days. Fuck. You see 44 is the average age for feeling at your lowest. For the last few years it has all been down hill. In fact from my early twenties I have been heading inexorably for the doldrums, spiralling out of control as I plummet towards middle age. However, it is not the fault of the kids being a constant drain on my limited recourses, nor the fault of my inadequate job or my steadily greying head. Oswald states that there is nothing that can be done to alter my state. No kids, tough, you're still depressed. Filthy rich - well that won't help you either. The U-shaped curve of psychological well-being is fixed and unalterable.
So thats 384 hours of misery so far and 8400 more to go until things start to become a little better. But of course it will only be a small improvement because the theory states that I am at the nadir of the 'u' in my life. It will only get significantly better when I'm about 58 or so and by the time I'm 70 I will be beside myself with happiness. By then all my old friends will be dying off and I will be 'counting my blessings' as I realise what a lucky soul I am.
So how true is it? These things are always difficult to prove one way or another. A trawl through history and you will find a fair few unhappy souls in their middle years. Dante wasn't exactly a laugh a minute was he? But in many (most) ways I really don't give a shit. Some of my friends are divorced, some divorcing and some depressed. Others have a very positive demeanour most of the time. So either Oswald is right only some of the time or they are good actors. Pass the Oscar anyone?
The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (mp3) Buy
9 comments:
crap that's me this time. but while i despair at the sagging and wrinkling and odd ways stuff isstarting to settle (i'm vain like that) most everything else makesme smile like never before. i like being this age pretty much. it's the getting closer to the end which isn't too much fun
x
I just wonder where I fit on the 'friends' descriptions :) x
Ally - I like my age by and all as well. Wisdom and all that. We cant have everything I spose.
Crash - you fit wherever you like. We all love you just as you want to be!
I like the fact that the long slow careful progress of technology means that we can have this discussion on here even though we're sat about fifteen feet apart.
Oh, get a (staff) room you two.
Age is all bollocks. I have known 22 years old who were 50, and 85 years olds who were 25.
All in the minnnnd TV x
Feel free to correct my spelling.
youngster
I'm 44.
Jeez. We were born in more or less the same week.
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