Tag: happiness

Make Room for the ‘shrooms!

~ Mr Shit50s ~ Leave a comment

Just when I was about to give up on Happy, along comes a radical new treatment for depression

Original image: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay

I COULD BE A POSTER BOY for the term Treatment Resistant Depression.

When I was 21, and first saw a psychotherapist, I had the rather sweet and naïve belief that I would get ‘better’ soon.

And by ‘better’, I guess I meant happier – with myself, with my relationships, with my past, present and future.  

Now I’m 55, I’m content with many aspects of life – I married a woman with a heart of gold, and have got just a bit wiser over the years – but I haven’t left my depression behind.

Just the other week, I was trying to get to grips with feeling down again, and decided to do some journaling.

I found myself drawing a bubble with the words ‘Hate Myself’ in the middle of the page, and 11 – eleven! – arrows radiating around it, detailing exactly what I disliked about me.

So, no, I wouldn’t say I was as happy as I’d hoped to be at 21.  

Continue reading “Make Room for the ‘shrooms!” →

At Last! Some Good Numbers For 50-Somethings!

~ Mr Shit50s ~ Leave a comment

If you’re 50 or older, you may already be over the worst…

A smiling face graph

I WAS NEVER much good at maths but, there are a lot of numbers running through my head at the minute.

For example, I’ve just entered the last year of the famed 45-54 marketing category – the one after which advertisers lose interest in flogging stuff to you, because you can in no way be considered sexy any more.

Rather than worrying about being a year closer to falling off my perch, however, I’m actually looking forward to being forgotten – give or take the odd poke from Viking River Cruises or Stannah Stairlifts.

I’m also approaching a more personally important statistic because, if I hang around for about another 18 months, I’ll have passed the ages at which my Dad and my Mum died. 

And, although their passing has caused me all manner of pain over the years, I’m now strangely euphoric that I’m about to be out on my own here.

Outliving them seems a success of a kind, as if we were in some sort of race and suddenly… I’m in the lead

God knows, it’s not like me to be so cheerful about anything – especially getting older.

But according to new research on how age affects happiness I may, quite literally, have turned a corner. Or at least a curve…

I’m talking about the recent study by former Bank of England economist David Blanchflower, who has pinpointed the age at which we are most unhappy as 47 years and two months.

Continue reading “At Last! Some Good Numbers For 50-Somethings!” →

Let’s Invest In Being Happier

~ Mr Shit50s ~ Leave a comment

US Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang wants to rescue society by giving everybody a $10,000 guaranteed income. By coincidence, I was given £10,000 last month – and it’s already transforming my life.

Coins sprouting green shoots
Image: Nattanan Kanchanaprat/Pixabay

TODAY, I’M SEEING my psychotherapist for the first time in three months – and at last I have some good news to give him.

In fact, I hope he will still recognise me, because a lot has changed since we last met.

Back in the summer, I was a cynical, depressed, old guy who felt trapped in his long-time role as a House Husband and Teaching Assistant.

But now, I feel younger and more hopeful.

I am – at last – making realistic plans about how I can change my life, and am putting them into practice.

I sense that I might return to work, and again reap the benefits – financial, social and emotional – that come with doing a job I like.

And, as a result, I feel suddenly, giddily, happy.

All at once, I am grateful for myriad things: from the beauty of this morning’s sunrise to the autumn splendour of the trees at the top of my road.

I am even pleased that today is Monday, because Monday is the day my favourite podcasts come out.

And what has made the difference to me is – more or less – money.

Continue reading “Let’s Invest In Being Happier” →

God Damn Right – It’s Still A Beautiful Day

~ Mr Shit50s ~ Leave a comment

THE NEWS is bad, bad, bad. So bad that I feel terrible for being happy.

Beautiful pink clouds

AT THE risk of sounding like a BTEC Delta Bluesman, I woke up this morning.

​And the news was bad. 

British Steel ’bout to fail.

Jamie’s Italian had. 

Brexit was still happening, or not happening. 

Farage was brushing off the milkshake and slipping on the Knuckle Dusters, ready to deal British tolerance another smart whack to the plums at the Ballot Box tomorrow. 

And, worst of all, the United Nations rapporteur on extreme poverty was laying into the Government for recreating a new Victorian workhouse through welfare cuts and austerity.

Continue reading “God Damn Right – It’s Still A Beautiful Day” →