EngineerGirl, I can believe that what you say applies to some people in your position... I am skeptical that it would apply to most people who would say that to me.

I would suspect that many people who might say what you say have adjusted themselves to their situation, accustomed themselves to tradeoffs that they might not have made in other circumstances, and so on. I would apply the notion of conditional or circumstantial happiness.... "given X and Y and Z, I am happy."

I'm quite willing to believe you were happy. I'm less certain that your current position is one you would have chosen "a priori" in the Rawlsian philosophical sense... prior to knowing what actual position you would inhabit in the world.

It is quite possible that you are one of the people for whom what you say is really true, even without conditions. I don't have a certain knowledge that applies to every person on the planet.

Nonetheless I think the broad generalities that I have described (far too broad) apply to the general human condition.