Ageing and the pursuit of happiness: a personal case study

This article considers the manner in which happiness can be experienced as we age, from both an academic and personal perspective. It highlights some of the myths surrounding ageing and happiness, and examines some of the foci of where happiness is assumed to lie as we age. It concludes with the personal realization that for the author at least, learning to truly ‘be’ has had far more of an influence on his experience of happiness than trying to ‘do’, to achieve ‘more’. It also aims to provide hope to younger readers that happiness can in fact be reached and sustained at any age, depending on how we choose to experience the internal and external world.