re: Are you happier now than your younger days?

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College years are the happiest by far

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Yeah, not even close.
Sorry kiddos.

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high paying (relatively speaking) job with zero stress.

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this is akin to the crazy/hot scale "unicorn" classification. No job is high paying and no stress

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Maybe it's time to get away from these expectations from society and do what actually makes us happy...

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Wrong approach IMO

People should do what they excel at, what helps their family, what helps their community and what needs to be done.

They will find fulfillment in that if done earnestly and well, even if it's not what they "wanted" to do.

People have been chasing the "do what you love" dream for 20 years and culturally many things are worse, families are more broken, people are more unhappy, etc.

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You can't be a carefree kid forever.

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I used to believe that until recently. A lot of these rioters, err, protesters seem to be mid to late 20’s yet they’re out there, all hours of the night, day after day. Seems like they’ve turned shirking responsibility into a profession. Even in my most rambunctious days, I could only string together 2 nights max before life would give me a reality check.

Well I damn well better be- 'cause there's no turning back now.


I consider myself to be very happy. No regrets!

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Are you happier now than your younger days?

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No. Generally, my happiness increased with age, but this is an aberrant moment in history. The pandemic-induced recession combined with the irrational, oppressive sociopolitical climate have generated immense financial pressures and uncertainties, along with a prevailing sense of despair. It is hard to feel happy when you are concerned about your long-term ability to provide for your loved ones and fundamental meritocracy is under siege.

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Well I damn well better be- 'cause there's no turning back now. 

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I might have had more fun when I was younger but you certainly become more content with yourself as a person with age.

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Are you happier now than your younger days?

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frick. No.

When younger, you have no responsibilities and you can essentially do whatever you want with any person(s) you want and find things that make you happy. As a kid, I thought being an adult would be awesome too. Like being a kid but without anyone bossing you around. Boy oh boy was I wrong though.

Being a kid with more family amd playing with friends with no rush in the world

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Not to derail this thread but do you actually believe we live in a meritocracy?

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Today? Certainly not. And there has never been a perfect meritocracy, because any system is ultimately administered by fallible humans prone to errors. But the present attack on merit is much more insidious and pervasive than previous iterations. Historically, there was at least some consensus on what constituted merit, which was in turn built upon a consensus of what constituted reality and truth. Today, that consensus is being intentionally unraveled by radicals for political and power gains. The new ideology insists that there is no objective truth, nor any fixed idea of merit. Excellence, evidence, reason, science, and truth are nothing more than constructs of the prevailing patriarchal power structure, inherently untrustworthy and deserving of scorn. This view is the underpinning of the current "social justice" movement. Any evidence or logic or truth that opposes the movement can simply be disregarded as the product of some amorphous "structural bias." The movement becomes a tautology. In the abstract, this seems hazy and esoteric and rather fussy and innocuous. In practice, it justifies wealth redistribution and rank unfairness. For example, confronted by a "marginalized" candidate for a job and a white male candidate, it becomes irrelevant if the white candidate has better test scores, a better education, more accomplishments, greater demonstrable skill, and so forth. A rational person would argue those attributes make the white male candidate more qualified and justify hiring him, but the new orthodoxy dismisses those attributes as the unearned badges of structural privilege. No amount of evidence can favor the mainstream candidate. The only "correct" outcome is to hire the marginalized candidate to promote "diversity." Merit is replaced with dogma. Dogma drives myriad forms of power and wealth redistribution. And those who deviate from dogma face the virtual mob.