Stay-at-home kids are named “generation nini” in Spain. They are those adults who still live at home and are neither working nor studying. But the problem is not limited to Spain. It is a worldwide problem.

In Italy, they are known as “bamboccioni” or big babies. There nearly 60 percent of 18-34-year-old adults still live in their parents’ home, up from almost 50 percent since 1983. Once kept there by the love for their mama’s home-cooked food, the economic crisis（经济危机）has seen a rise in adults left unable to hold down a steady job or afford a home of their own. Last year, an Italian government minister admitted that his mother washed his clothes and made the bed for him until he was 30. He demanded a law forcing young Italians to leave their parents’ home at 18 to stop them becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents.

In the UK, the government has made the term NEETS---not in employment, education or training for these children. In England alone the percent of NEETS aged 19-24 surged to 18.8 percent of the age group-in the last quarter of 2010, up 1.4 percent on the same period a year before. The number of British men in their 20s living with their parents has risen from 59 percent to 80 percent in the past 15 years, while the number of women has risen from 41percent to 50 percent. The average age of the first-time house buyers is now 38.

In the US, the problem is known as the “full nest syndrome（综合症）”. Adults there are left struggling to support adult children who have stayed at home with student debts and facing few job opportunities in a weak economy. A recent study showed almost a third of American adults aged 34 and under are living with their parents

After weeks of lockdown, the French are more eager than ever to get away from the breathless cities. But the busy traffic will also serve as a reminder of another annual summer trend here. The French have the unfortunate distinction of being the European champions(冠军) for abandoning pets that have become too cumbersome for their summer trips. Animal shelters up and down the country are evidence of this unique and sad tradition.

Betty Loizeau has run a shelter just north of Toulouse for more than 20 years. “Owners call up to say where their pets can be found, or drop them off in boxes outside the shelter under the cover of darkness. The excuses they typically give are that they’re going on holiday, having a baby, moving house, or they have a new partner with allergies, .......”

For shelters like this one, it is the busiest time of the year. Between 100,000 and 200,000 pets are abandoned in France each year, with 60% of these incidents occurring over the summer. The figure is close to 16.000 in the UK.

“Pets are increasingly seen as an impulsive(冲动的) buy,” says Marina Chailland, a vet(兽医) who has studied the social relationship between the French and their pets.

“A certain breed(品种) of cat or dog is fashionable and owners want one, just like a new smartphone,” she says. “Of course, when it goes out of fashion they desert it for an upgrade a couple of years later, when a new breed is considered fashionable.” She also points to the issue of pets being given as gifts as a reason why so many are abandoned. “Often parents will get pets for their children and when they grow up and lose interest in them, out goes the pet.”

Over the summer, owners discover that hotels charge extra for animals or even ban them completely. This explains why you will often see frightened, lost, dogs wandering near freeway service stations or beach resorts.

The law of supply and demand determines that an overabundance of anything will lead to a decrease in price. This rule applies not only to goods and services, but also to lifestyle and fashion trends.

In the 19th century, the primitive paintings of Picasso and Matisse shook up the positive image of the French bourgeoisie (中产阶级). In the 1970s, talented musicians with tailored costumes and egos were overshadowed by a band of punk rockers who sang about the harsh realities of ordinary life in poor urban areas.

I predict that this will also happen with beauty standards. The idealized version of life portrayed in fashion magazines will reach a turning point, as people become tired of unattainable perfection.

During my time in Washington D.C. in the 1990s, I had the opportunity to interact with numerous political celebrities. While chatting with former presidents or bumping into TV pundits (名嘴) in elevators, I also assisted former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who was my boss’s boss. What struck me was how ordinary these people appeared in real life despite their public characters. Like everyone else, they grappled with insecurities and mood swings, even though they were constantly under the spotlight.

Yes, it was great to drop names on the phone to my friends. My father, of course, couldn’t understand why I would ever want to leave. “Because you’re not me and I’m not impressed,” I told him. We do not need to lead a luxurious life or make groundbreaking achievements to be content. Happiness can be found in living out the ordinary moments of an authentic life.

Most of us end up being ordinary people without doing anything that changes the world, but that does not mean our lives are meaningless. In fact, it is precisely this realization that leads to sustainable happiness because, when all is said and done, no one’s lifestyle is essentially better than any other’s.