There cannot be a topic more widely researched and written about right now than happiness. Google ‘happiness‘ and you can discover the secret to finding it; you can learn how to define it, how to measure it and ultimately how to have it.
Happiness is a hot topic and a state of being that is highly sought after – which makes the findings in this latest study even more grim.
According to a large study by the NHS (Britain’s equivalent of our Ministry of Health), British women are more miserable than men for almost their entire lives. Yes, that’s right – entire lives – and are only happier after the age of 85 (which is when, by then, their husbands/partners are most likely dead).
According to The Times the study found that women get progressively happier in retirement before overtaking men in their ninth decade. Psychiatrists say that this may be because so many are widowed by then. Ouch.
Whether the same could be said for Kiwi women, the findings certainly open things up for discussion – because of course there will be many women here and in Britain and all over the world who adore their husbands and wouldn’t be without them. And you cannot make the person you’re with responsible for your own personal happiness levels.
But maybe findings like this also tell us that there may be more women around than we think who are going to be just fine and dandy in their old age, on their own. We hate to say it but how many women have you drunk wine with who have confessed that if they end up divorced, they would never marry again? Yes, we know a few too.
The only shame is that some women spend so much of their lives simply surviving, when they could be thriving.
Life is short.
