TIME

THE SURPRISING JOY OF OLD AGE

In old age, fears of getting one’s heart broken begin to fade

If life wanted to mess with you, it couldn’t have come up with a better way than death. Especially the lead-up. Your strength flags; your world narrows; much of what once gave you pleasure and satisfaction is now gone. But as it turns out, happiness is still very much with you—often even more so than before.

In some ways, our youth and middle years are really a sort of training period for the unanticipated pleasure of being an older adult, psychologist

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