[Voices of the MZ Generation Column] The Secret to Happiness We Need More as We Age

The Advantages of Aging: The Joys of Maturity
Finding Happiness Through One's Own Will

Jiwool Jeong, Cultural Critic and Lawyer

Recently, I started playing the piano and boxing. The reason was quite simple: I wanted to be happier. From the days of studying for law school exams to working at law firms and other jobs, I devoted my entire 30s, and unknowingly realized that I had become accustomed to an ‘efficient life.’ Instead, I felt the need to find things that I could enjoy not just for efficiency but for their own sake.

Another thought that came to me was that if there is a secret to happiness as we age, it might be that we become better at many things. Children are geniuses of happiness; even without being good at anything in particular, they know how to enjoy every moment. Compared to that, growing older seems like a process of gradually losing happiness and joy. However, there is something that can only be gained with age: the things we become good at.

In childhood, having the sun, the sea, and sand right in front of you is enough to fill a day with happiness more than anyone else. But children do not yet know the joy of becoming proficient at the piano after years of effort, the sense of accomplishment after writing a book, or the pleasure of boxing with a body trained for months. Aging certainly has its own advantages, but those advantages assume that time has not been wasted.

Over a long period, if we, as individuals, learn and master things that only we can do well, perhaps we can come to know joys different from those of childhood and appreciate the pleasures of maturity. We might become accustomed to intellectual reading to the extent that we can enjoy reading novels in English, which we couldn’t approach as children, or difficult philosophy books. We might prepare dishes by chopping, stir-frying, and boiling seemingly unrelated ingredients to make meals that our loved ones find most delicious. We might become musicians who play music ourselves, rather than just sitting and listening as children did.

Of course, happiness in aging might also include states of peace gained by simply letting go or distancing oneself from desires. However, I want to know more about the unique joy of adulthood that comes from gradually improving and growing, rather than the peace that comes from giving up everything. I believe that joy should be different from the simple pleasures of childhood?running around innocently or endlessly craving and consuming all the latest trends. I want to know more about the depth and proficiency that come from becoming skilled and mature, accomplishing things that were previously impossible, and entering new stages of life.

So, as I grow older, I want to live each day as someone who can enjoy what life has accumulated: playing a few favorite pieces on the piano in the morning, reading books interpreting Nietzsche’s later works or Sophocles’ tragedies, playing table tennis or learning boxing with my son. What I do not want is to just stare blankly at the TV all day or waste the remaining days without accumulating or growing through life’s experiences.

After the days of childhood, when I lived as a genius of happiness and could smile at even a passing grub, it seems that now is the time to discover happiness through one’s own abilities and to obtain it with willpower. I hope to take one more step forward into that time every day. I wish to create happiness without regrets throughout my life and be able to leave this life peacefully.

Jung Ji-woo, Cultural Critic & Lawyer