People that are Happy

I have yet to meet an adult that seems really truly happy. Most of the adult figures in my life (and by adult here I mean people over 40 lets say) are people that seemed burned out, depressed and are not living the lives they want. They say that "this is just the way life is" or things like "it's the economy that is making everything suck and there's nothing I can do about it." 

At my current job, my boss has made a point that he wants to "mentor" me and wow that is awesome! He is really successful at what he does and someone offering to be your mentor is not something easily found. The more and more I get to know him though, I've found he is miserable. He never sees his kids, is in an unhappy marriage and so on because he is always working and never home. He seems to make excuses like, "I love my job" or "this is what I was taught to do, be able to provide well for my family". Both of these things would be great, but it's obviously not bringing him any real happiness. 

I've talked to him a lot about it and tried to look at it from different angles. One of the major and obvious things is that he puts his work before his family constantly. At first I thought maybe it was possible that people have different priorities but still lead a happy life. Again as I got to know him I don't feel like this is the case. Having strong connections with other humans is really at the base of what makes people happy. I know I've read plenty of books that say that it is proven that people that are more sociable are overall happier. And I don't believe that being social means that you have to have 100 friends, I know I certainly don't. 

Coming back to where I began, I want to make a point to find someone that is 40+ that is really truly happy in their lives. I have been asking my teachers if they fell their lives, so far, were satisfying and I am realized that people will lie to me and tell me that they are happy because they don't want to share personal information or they don't want to tell a student or someone "young" that they are unhappy. Not fun conversation. 

I do realize that I don't get out much, and this is something that I'm going to try to force myself to do. I don't really know where to start with it, but I want to find at least one person, who at lease seems to be living a balanced, happy life and learn from them.