This Just Might Be The Happiest Man In The Country
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday December 22, 2003
Dominic dosRemedios fits a profile for the happiest man in Australia. He lives in Sydney. He's 32, married, doesn't smoke, drinks a bit and exercises a lot (gym three or four times a week, surfing, touch football once a week and surfing).
He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Education in Human Movement and is now the national personal training manager for Fitness First Australia, where he works with his new wife, Melony, 29.
Is he happy?
``Absolutely the fact that I'm recently married is something that I attribute it to but I've known my wife for 4 1/2 years so it's not only that," he said.
He enjoys contact with his close family and friends, not to mention living in Bondi.
``I would say environment is a huge part," he said. ``I've lived for 4 1/2 years in New York city and when we moved back to Sydney we lived in Kings Cross for a while before realising that we loved the beach and had to live near it."
This is a sentiment echoed by Melony dosRemedios, who says living in Sydney has definitely raised her happiness level. She describes herself as ``delighted".
Mr dosRemedios, however, describes himself merely as ``pleased", because ``if you were to walk around delighted all the time you're setting yourself up for a disappointment".
If there is anything that brings him down, ``it's probably stress at work . . . I don't like to disappoint anyone and unfortunately there will always be people that you can't give your full attention to".
About 57 per cent of Australians had experienced a stressful situation in the past 12 months, according to a separate general social survey issued yesterday by the Bureau of Statistics. The most common causes were serious illness of self or someone close (21 per cent) and death of someone close (20 per cent).
Money was not perceived as an overwhelming issue: 52 per cent of adults said they had ``no consumer debt" and a further 19 per cent had debts of less than $5000.
However, 14 per cent said they would be ``unable to raise $2000 within a week
for something important" and 19 per cent had experienced a cash-flow problem
in the past year.
THE FUN FACTOR
How Australians over 18 feel about their lives. Figures are percentages.
THE MOST CHEERFUL
LIVE IN AGE MARRIED HIGH
HEAVY
SYDNEY 18-39 EXERCISE
DRINKER
Delighted 14.4 14.1 13.2 19.4
15.1
Pleased 29 35.1 32.2 36.4
34.6
Mostly satisfied 31.7 29.5 33.3 27.4
29.7
Mixed 19.1 16.7 16.8 12.9
16.3
Mostly dissatisfied 2.4 2 2.2 2.2
2
Unhappy 2.5 1.4 1.3 1.3
1.4
Terrible 0.9 1.1 0.9 0.4
0.8
THE LEAST CHEERFUL
SEDENTARY DON'T CURRENT NO JOB
DIVORCED AVERAGE
DRINK SMOKER
NATIONAL
Delighted 8.9 10.6 9.3 7
8.4 12
Pleased 25.9 26.4 27.1 23.1
22.1 30.6
Mostly satisfied 34.6 33.1 32.4 27.6
34.4 33.2
Mixed 22.6 21.5 23.2 30.3
23.5 18.4
Mostly dissatisfied 3.3 2.5 3.1 5
4.8 2.6
Unhappy 2.8 4 2.7 3.3
4.2 2
Terrible 1.9 1.9 2.3 3.7
2.7 1.3
SOURCE: ABS
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald