Starting the new year on a satisfied note
Poll finds 85 per cent of respondents are either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ satisfied with their lives
The vast majority of Ontarians are satisfied with their lives, thank you very much, according to a recent year-end Forum Research poll conducted for the Star.
The poll asked 1,001 adults in the province about their satisfaction with life in general, and 41 per cent responded they were “very satisfied” and a further 44 per cent said they were “somewhat satisfied.”
City of Toronto and GTA residents were equally likely to report satisfaction. Retired people over age 65 with high incomes were the most satisfied with their quality of life in general — no surprise there. But more than half of all respondents said they were satisfied with their job security, work-life balance, stress level and sex life.
Two profiles of satisfaction emerged from the poll results.
‘If you find a path you have a good chance of being happy’
Judy Davies and Suzanne Karkeck both took early retirement from busy jobs in downtown Toronto. They both moved to the ’burbs. Both are single, each with a son but no grandchildren.
They don’t take cruises or head to Florida in the winter, and neither fits the doting grandma stereotype. But they both say they are thrilled with how their later years unfolded, finding joy in hiking the trails of the GTA and the Niagara Escarpment together. They met by chance at the Riverwood Conservancy in Mississauga, where Davies volunteers, and hit it off. Though retirement can mean a fixed income, it can also mean a tremendous drop in stress levels. According to the Forum poll, a quarter of retired respondents and those over 65 were “very satisfied” with their stress level. Compare that to 4 per cent of students and 9 per cent of retail and clerical workers.
“Money can’t buy you happiness,” said Davies, who spent most of her career at the Royal Ontario Museum’s planetarium, now shuttered, before retiring in 2008.
“To walk in the woods, with the wind blowing through the trees, we absolutely love that,” she said. “We sat by the river the other day. The river was rushing, it was a lovely, sun- ny afternoon. The sun was on our faces, it was warm. And we said to each other, ‘What could be better than this?’ ”
Davies, 68, loves reading by Lake Ontario and working in her English garden, with its Shasta daisies, rose bushes and ornamental grasses.
Karkeck, 72, has two dogs, her Husky-Chow mixes Cookie, 11, and Crumbles, 12, that keep her active. She organizes a weekly meetup group for retired people in the GTA, and arranges outings to places such as the theatre, greenhouses, the movies, bowling and karaoke, as well as those long walks.
“A lot of them volunteer, are very engaged with grandchildren, that sort of thing,” said Karkeck, who worked as a teacher in the Toronto board until her retirement in 1999. “Some have scads of money and travel all the time.”
But some struggle with too much free time and the open-ended days of retirement.
Finding a new purpose is the key to happiness, Karkeck said. For her, it’s bringing people together through social outings.
“It doesn’t have to be something earth-shaking,” she said. “If you find a path you have a good chance of being happy.”
As for a sex life, seniors were least likely to report satisfaction. Davies had her share of romance, but now prefers to live alone, she said. “There’s a lot of ladies — I can’t fathom it — in my age group and still out there looking for men. I’m thinking, ‘Are you crazy? For what?’
“Then there’s the other ones that are like me: at this stage, you can forget it! We’ve been there and done that.”
‘I come smiling to work’
Wisam Abdulaziz talks a mile a minute and seems to end every sentence with an exclamation point. He’s probably been asked before why he is so happy because he lists off his three priorities in short order.
“I care about my lifestyle, I care about my work and I care about my future,” he said, almost shouting with enthusiasm. A nice car, house, travel, fine dining, activities with his wife and two kids: these are his pleasures.
“That will need three things: money, it needs good health and it needs time,” said the vice-president of search engine optimization at a digital marketing company. So far, Abdulaziz has managed to maintain all three.
According to the poll, those who were “very satisfied” with their job security and work-life balance were more likely to be male, live in the 905 — and not the 416 — and work as a professional or business owner mak- ing $80,000 to $100,000 per year.
Thirty per cent of those between the ages of 35 and 44 were “very satisfied” with their job security, the same proportion as the poll overall.
Only the under-34 cohort reported more satisfaction at 34 per cent.
You’d never know that from talking to Abdulaziz, 41, who started a second career when he moved to Canada from Syria a decade ago.
He’s a civil engineer by training but he found better job prospects here in web design and programming and has thrived in that industry.
He first landed in Scarborough but moved to Ajax to shorten his drive to work in Pickering. He also discovered Durham region is the “land of golf,” he said.
It all seems so simple when Abdulaziz lays it out: ditch the long-distance commute, play golf on weekends, take the kids to Disney, enjoy your work.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “If you’re going to spend eight hours a day, which is more than half your day, outside your home, it has to be good . . . Imagine if your life is going good, but you hate your job. Life isn’t going to be any good. I come smiling to work.”
Abdulaziz chose Canada as his new home because he saw it as a place where hard work was rewarded and where his future grandchildren would be safe.
He still has family, including his father and many cousins, in Syria. He is in the process of sponsoring one to join him in Canada.
One day he’ll retire — he dreams of golfing in Florida — but he first needs to save for the education of his kids, Andrew, 11, and Adrian, 9.
He and wife Angele Abdulnor are going “full-speed” until maybe age 50, when they can slow down.
“I come from a culture where parents have to provide for their kids,” he said. “That makes me happy and satisfied. It’s in my DNA.”