happy

For Rachel Shukert, author of Everything is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour, spending years traveling and working her way through Europe helped make her the happier, more self-assured woman she is today.

Making new friends can get tougher and tougher as you get older, but it's definitely a pursuit that can bring you a lot of happiness.

I live alone and, most of the time, I really like it. I like being able to shut the door on a apartment of my own - and more often than not, a mess that's all mine - and have the privacy and peace that comes with complete ownership of a space.

We talked to Kevin Hansen, founder of the site Secret Regrets (which offers an anonymous platform for readers to share their deepest, darkest regrets), about the connection between regret and happiness, and what women tend to regret most.

I haven't been on a horse since I was 11, and my childhood equestrian memories aren't entirely happy ones. I grew up with four or five other girls the same age - our parents were all friends - and whenever one of us took an interest in an activity, the rest of us were signed up, too.