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There is a LOT more to life than the above. And many people have lives which are QUITE different than the assumptions above.
For example many people do not go to college.
Quite a few people do not get married. Quite a few live together and never get married.
Also "other" is always a good thing in a poll - allows for something not stated.
Anyway my happiest life stage was when I brought home my 2nd Labrador dog. My other dog was happy too!
(Seriously all my adult life has been happy. It is just a different kind of happiness as I grow older and then become interested in different things.)
I also have a picture of my nephew with a BIG smile on his face riding up to my house in the back seat of his mom's car. He was 4 years old at the time and was not in a relationship, had no bills, no job, no responsibilities whatsoever! (No wonder he had such a big smile!)
There is a LOT more to life than the above. And many people have lives which are QUITE different than the assumptions above.
For example many people do not go to college.
Quite a few people do not get married. Quite a few live together and never get married.
Also "other" is always a good thing in a poll - allows for something not stated.
^Agree +1
I didn't vote in the poll bc. to my mind, I wasn't more or less happy at some "stage".
There were upsides & downsides to every phase of my existence thus far,
and I expect that to continue so long as I'm among the living.
There were great things about being a kid, there were awful things about being a kid.
Could say exact same thing for any point in my life:
teenager before college, when I got married, when I got divorced, etc.
I can say this or that event/action/happening in my life was bad, unhappy, made me angry-
or that something else was good, wonderful, joyous-
but those aren't stages necessarily, nor "milestones"/benchmarks in any traditional sense.
Can't average it out in some quantifiable metric-the question doesn't fit with how I view my life.
I agree, these are not life stages, but specific events that happen in SOME people's lives.
My summer "off" before college was not really "off." I worked, a lot. Plus, the "no bills" thing hardly made up for being a chronological adult but still having to live under my parents' rules. For me, finally getting away to college was much "happier" compared with the summer before college.
I've never gotten married or had a honeymoon. But yes, being in love and going on trips are fun, but I wouldn't call them a life stage. Also, the negatives you attach to this event--the cost and having to work extra hours--apply to LOTS of things in life, not just a wedding and a honeymoon.
I've never had a child and never wanted them.
I haven't yet reached retirement, but I'll certainly have a nest-egg. The nest-egg makes me happy. The long career makes me happy. The idea of retiring and having time to pursue whatever I like makes me happy. But I'll have to get back to you in 25 years or so.
Never had kids, so won't be walking anyone down any aisles. Sure it sounds like a happy event, but then again I'm also thinking about the hypothetical cost of this hypothetical wedding of my hypothetical child.
I can think of a lot more actual life stages that were filled with happiness, and also many more life events that were filled with much more happiness than the options given.
None of the above applied to me so i had to visualize myself in each one. i chose "The day you walk your child down the aisle to marry his/her new found love", this one made me feel the most happy because i know how finding love is very important.
Seeing loved ones happy makes me more happier than seeing myself happy. i am certain that this is the same for everyone.
I also have a picture of my nephew with a BIG smile on his face riding up to my house in the back seat of his mom's car. He was 4 years old at the time
Yeah, that age was certainly part of the happiest period of my life. Should've been included in the poll--"the earliest part of childhood that you can remember" might well be the runaway winner IMO, perhaps as much out of the tendency to romanticize the past as out of the experience of general contentment. But, regardless, I certainly do look back fondly on pre-adolescence. Reminds me of this great song, one of my favorites in fact:
None of the above.. I'm happiest in between major milestones in life when there's not much going on except figuring out what my next move in life should be.
Milestones = stress.
Idleness = no fun.
But discovering new things and figuring out how to eliminate idleness = happiness.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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While I chose First Newborn Child, marriage and walking a daughter down the aisle are right up there. I have not retired yet so can't comment on that. My "summer off" was between the first and second years of college, and I moved out right after that. It was memorable too, as I did a cross country road trip with a friend, 18,000 miles and only spent about $500 for food and gas (as low as 25 cents/gallon). When I got married there was no problem with financial burden and working 90/hour weeks. We both had good jobs working only 40 hours a week with good benefits, and were able to buy a house when I got a promotion and still had more money with the house payment $369/month at 7% interest. Our rent before that was $225, but my raise was $600.
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+1
