{"id":2653,"date":"2016-10-29T09:05:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T09:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2653"},"modified":"2016-10-29T09:05:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-29T09:05:22","slug":"throw-away-the-self-help-books-and-get-together-with-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2653","title":{"rendered":"Throw away the self-help books and get together with friends."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happiness has long \u00a0been seen as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. As long ago 320BC Aristotle came up with the phrase\u00a0\u201chappiness depends upon ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It seems the secret to happiness starts with\u00a0sharing experiences with others.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Paul Dolan\u00a0suggests middle age is when you should do more of the things \u00a0you love and making time to enjoy the little things in life.\u00a0This includes seeing old friends and making new friends, listening to music and going outdoors&#8230;.and throwing \u00a0away\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2016\/feb\/07\/forget-midlife-blues-secret-to-happiness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;the self-help books&#8221;.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Professor Dolan asked people how satisified they felt with certain aspects of their life and how worthwhile they felt. He discovered that young people had an amount of false optimism about life. However, by midlife, most people hadn\u2019t achieved what they would like to and so were less happy. By the time they reached their\u00a0late 50s they started to get over themselves and start doing the things they wanted,\u00a0caring less about social comparisons.<\/p>\n<p>Dolan points out this is not unique to Western culture. The U-shape in happiness has been replicated in surveys around the globe, in all cultures.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like ideas on what to do in middle age (and beyond), download a FREE checklist from <a href=\"http:\/\/clika.pe\/l\/6076\/49163\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/clika.pe\/l\/6076\/49163\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/clika.pe\/l\/6076\/49163\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7227\" src=\"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920.jpg\" alt=\"walk-932965_1920\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/walk-932965_1920-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Middle age is when you should do more of the things  you love and making time to enjoy the little things in life.  &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cityadventurers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2653\">More <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Throw away the self-help books and get together with friends.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[663,797,671],"tags":[1145,702,703,1146,28,1241,33,1242],"class_list":["post-2653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-generation-x-and-boomers","category-social-team-building","tag-boomers","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-generation-x","tag-happiness","tag-mid-life","tag-middle-age","tag-secret-to-happiness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - 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