Stephanie Coontz: What does it mean to say, i am satisfied with my life? She says the question is asking about how your life is measuring up to your expectations. As you're just getting older, she says, you lower your expectations for what you would expect out of your life. So when we're in middle age, we're still really crappy at predicting our feelings, coontz says.
How is aging different today than it was in the past? What do young people get wrong about happiness? And what does it mean if you impulsively decide to get your ear pierced in an unusual place?