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Think you are happy now? Just wait. The best emotional times come later in life, according to the Gallup-Healthways well-being index.

The oldest group outscored the other three age groups in emotions, which was one of six categories measured in a sweeping study on well-being. Out of a possible score of 100, the 65-and-older age group scored 83. Those 45-64 had the lowest score, 76.

Credit experience, says Kay McCurdy, 72, of Springfield, Va. "You shift your idea of what a good life is into what you can have as a good life," McCurdy says. "You get realistic."

Elisabeth Burnett, 73, a neighbor of McCurdy's at the Greenspring retirement home in the Washington metro area, says having a strong emotional life takes a hefty dose of true grit. Burnett has a daughter going through a divorce and has had to bury another grown child, yet she says she looks ahead with hope and joy.

"Today is the gift," Burnett says. "I think that's a kind of wisdom that comes with age that I may have had as a young person, but I didn't exercise as much as I do now."

Randy Weadon, 84, says honesty and discipline turned his sad life around. After going into diabetic shock one night and nearly dying, he started walking, lost 50 pounds and eventually got off insulin. He walks 7 miles a day to keep his weight down.

"I'm happier," says Weadon, also a Greenspring resident. "I have a better opinion of myself, and just all in all I'm a new person."

(c) Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. 

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