Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After Midlife

The Happiness Curve by Jonathan Rauch explores why happiness gets harder in our 40s and offers practical ways to endure the dip and avoid its perils and traps. It reveals that from our 20s into our 40s, happiness follows a U-shaped trajectory, declining from the optimism of youth into a long, low trough in middle age before starting to rise again in our 50s. This downturn is a natural stage of life and an essential one, as it allows us to shift priorities away from competition and toward compassion. Rauch's own story and the stories of many others show how the ordeal of midlife malaise can reboot our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Happiness follows a U-shaped trajectory from our 20s to our 40s, declining from the optimism of youth into a long, low trough in middle age before starting to rise again in our 50s. This downturn is a natural stage of life and an essential one, as it allows us to shift priorities away from competition and toward compassion. Drawing on cutting-edge research, award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch reveals that this downturn is instead a natural stage of life – and an essential one. By shifting priorities away from competition and toward compassion, we can equip ourselves with new tools of wisdom and gratitude to head positively into our later years. His own story and the stories of many others from all walks of life show how the ordeal of midlife malaise can reboot our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude. The Happiness Curve doesn't just show us the dark forest of midlife, it helps us find a path through the trees.

Weight: 232g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472960979