Half of Swiss Adults Shelved Their Dreams Too Long, Survey Finds

Three in four Swiss adults say they feel lucky in life — yet nearly half believe they have shelved their dreams for too long. That is the headline tension in a new representative survey of 1,866 adults in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland, carried out in June 2026 by the research institute Sotomo and commissioned by the insurer Helvetia, whose media release was published on October 14, 2026.

The numbers suggest luck does not automatically translate into action. While most respondents view their lives positively, 49 percent say they have shelved their dreams for too long, putting off personal goals they still care about. The release notes the feeling is especially common among middle-aged and younger groups. The postponed dreams are not exotic: health, travel and financial goals dominate the list, according to coverage of the findings.

The confidence gap is widest among the young. Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 81 percent say they would like to have more confidence in everyday life — the same group most likely to feel they have shelved their dreams before they even began. Everyday situations are where courage runs thinnest: 37 percent of respondents say saying "No" takes courage, and 34 percent find it difficult to address problems openly or deal with conflicts. A clear majority of the younger generation say they would like to step out of their comfort zone more often.

Yet looking back, bravery usually pays off. People who dared to make changes generally look back on them positively: big trips are viewed positively in hindsight by 99 percent of respondents, and marriage and starting a family by 97 percent. Even separations, the hardest of the big calls, are re-evaluated positively by 69 percent later on. Moving into self-employment and starting a new profession both score 93 percent positive in retrospect.

Luck tracks money more than mindset

Here is the counterpoint the feel-good framing cannot dodge. Feeling lucky is strongly tied to income and age. Among respondents with an equivalent disposable income above 6,000 francs a month, 88 percent say they always or often feel lucky; among those below 4,000 francs, the share falls to 58 percent, according to Keystone-SDA's reporting on the survey. The over-65s feel luckiest of all, at 87 percent.

That gradient complicates the "just be braver" reading. Confidence may help, but the survey itself shows that a sense of fortune is partly a function of a comfortable bank balance and a finished career. For a 25-year-old renting in Zurich, the advice to simply trust their abilities lands differently than it does for a retired homeowner — and it is worth remembering that shelved dreams often reflect real constraints, not just missing nerve. The workplace version of this tension is well documented: young workers report feeling better yet skip the stress leave they need, another case of knowing what helps and not quite doing it.

There is also a gender wrinkle: coverage of the findings notes that saying no, addressing conflicts and asking for help are particular challenges for women, who report needing more courage for these everyday confrontations than men do. The courage gap is not evenly distributed across society.

What actually builds the courage

Respondents point to one ingredient above all: faith in their own abilities. About 56 percent say believing in themselves makes it easier to step out of their comfort zone, while younger adults lean more on social support and older people draw on past experience. Many respondents say they would advise their younger selves to trust their abilities and embrace change.

The practical takeaway is deliberately small. The survey does not call for quitting your job tomorrow; it highlights everyday situations — the declined invitation, the named conflict, the asked favor — as the training ground. Small acts of courage, practiced regularly, are what respondents associate with the decisions they later feel best about. A written list of shelved dreams, revisited monthly, is a low-stakes way to practice.

For a generation that reports feeling lucky but acting hesitantly, the message is less "dream bigger" than "start smaller." The data suggests the dreams do not need upgrading; the confidence to begin them does. Switzerland may be one of the world's most comfortable places to live, but comfort, the survey suggests, is not the same as courage. And according to the Helvetia media release, people who dare to make changes almost always look back on them as positive.

More from GenZ NewZ: a five-year study of teen brains found that connection and mindfulness top the list of what actually helps young minds — read the findings here. And ten thousand teen brains just became an open book for science — see what researchers found.