Did Your Life Turn Out the Way You Wished?

AnnieA said:
Same here. I never wished for migraines at age four years old or autoimmune disorders that started in my teens and continue to pile up with age. Most of my life I've 'lived to work.' Didn't have much energy left over for living after working, but thankfully, most of the years I've enjoyed the people I'v worked with. Cutting back to part-time has been great and I hope always to be able to work part-time. I don't enjoy social chit chat so don't do club sorts of things but enjoy the camaraderie of healthcare. I gave academia a try at one point but found people to be too sensitive.
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Nobody is immune to diseases. It's part of everyone's life.
 

I didn't have any plans. I've just drifted through life and let things happen to me. Looking back, I wonder now how different things might have been if I had made different choices.
Although I'm in my 70's I don't feel life is over and , who knows, something unexpected might happen and things could suddenly take off in a new direction.
 
tbeltrans said:
I had (and still have) no idea what I want to do when I grow up. :) That said, I seemed to have fallen into technology, certainly not by design. It seemed to work OK for me, so that is what I did. In hindsight, I am glad that I got off the road as a musician when I did and settled down, because disco was becoming popular and DJ's were replacing live music at an alarming rate. In short, things worked out better for me than I thought they would.

However, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

Chet Atkins told his Dad that he wanted to be a musician when he grew up. His Dad told him, no son, you can't do both. :) :)

Tony
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My husband has this running joke, where when he meets someone new, he tells them, "when I grow up I want to be a garbage truck driver".

Dear husband has a lot of kid in him (I mean a lot), he's so young at heart, and he never says things to insult or slight others, but boy, you should see some of the looks he get's.
 
Aunt Marg said:
My husband has this running joke, where when he meets someone new, he tells them, "when I grow up I want to be a garbage truck driver".

Dear husband has a lot of kid in him (I mean a lot), he's so young at heart, and he never says things to insult or slight others, but boy, you should see some of the looks he get's.
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A nephew did that for his job and loved it. Unfortunately, he died in a motorcycle accident several years ago. However, while he was alive, he was the quintessential outdoorsman, loved hunting and fishing, and being a garbage man, was outdoors all the time.

To me, any honest work is honorable, as was my nephew's job. I do get the context and humor of what you husband says though and may try that one myself some day on somebody I meet. I just wanted to pay homage to my nephew, a hard worker who lived an honest life.

Tony
 
AnnieA said:
I gave academia a try at one point but found people to be too sensitive.
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That's an interesting statement, would you care to elaborate? In academia I found freedom to develop and grow, not because of the individuals but because of where the mental gymnastics led me.
 
Repondering said:
No it didn't turn out the way I wished, but my journey isn't over, I've got enough going for me that it's worthwhile to keep on living, I know that I'm useful and there's cause to anticipate some actual contentment. I gotta stop dwelling on the past though........
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Hey! the tone of your post is getting better. 🙂 Keep pressuring yourself to not allow the past free rent in your mind. Just do it brother, your journey starts now.
 
Aunt Marg said:
My husband has this running joke, where when he meets someone new, he tells them, "when I grow up I want to be a garbage truck driver".

Dear husband has a lot of kid in him (I mean a lot), he's so young at heart, and he never says things to insult or slight others, but boy, you should see some of the looks he get's.
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Perfect place for your husband - https://youngatheart55plus.com
 
Aunt Marg said:
My husband has this running joke, where when he meets someone new, he tells them, "when I grow up I want to be a garbage truck driver".
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When I was a kid and people ask what I wanted to be when I grow up, I said,

I want to be like Dory (she's our beloved nanny) who's good in ironing clothes. I was fascinated with pressing clothes, the way she did it. * Back then, our clothes were handwashed, hanged to dry and ironed.

My brother wanted to be a dirty ice cream vendor. That's the guy going around in 2 wheel carts selling no name brand ice cream in sugar cones.They're not dirty, in fact they tasted better than the name brand ice cream. I pine for those days, life was simple.
 
hellomimi said:
When I was a kid and people ask what I wanted to be when I grow up, I said,

I want to be like Dory (she's our beloved nanny) who's good in ironing clothes. I was fascinated with pressing clothes, the way she did it. * Back then, our clothes were handwashed, hanged to dry and ironed.

My brother wanted to be a dirty ice cream vendor. That's the guy going around in 2 wheel carts selling no name brand ice cream in sugar cones.They're not dirty, in fact they tasted better than the name brand ice cream. I pine for those days, life was simple.
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Love the stories, HM!

I remember watching my mom do certain things when I was really young, and thinking how fun and interesting they were to do.
 
I am pretty happy with the way my life is going. I certainly never had a vision or a plan, it just "happened." It seems to me that it was like being in a room with one door. After awhile you finish whatever you are doing and just walk through to door to the next opportunity. My wife and I both had good careers that "just happened", nothing in my career was particularly difficult, and when it was, I seemed to enjoy it even more.

There have been many bumps along the way, and I am not particularly pleased with having to fight my way through prostrate cancer right now. But taken as a whole, I have few real complaints.

Things probably turned out much better than they would have if I had actually had a vision or a plan.
 
NO WAY!!! I've always been a good girl and have done everything that everybody else wanted me to do/be. I was looking for love and validation. I never found it. My mother (who was very controlling and verbally abusive) wanted me to be a nurse, so I went to nursing school. I hated it. It wasn't what I wanted to do at all. I've always been good at math and loved working with figures and I was good at it. I should have pursued that path. Nope. Got married at 19 because back in 1964, that was the career most girls went for. That was a total disaster. Did I learn anything? Nope. Kept making the same mistakes over and over. Now, at 74, I'm regretting wasting my life FOR other people that never cared about me or what I wanted. I didn't know how to stand on my own two feet and take care of myself. I was very sheltered growing up and very naïve about life. I think I still am. I doubt I'll ever grow up.....sigh :(
 
Colleen said:
NO WAY!!! I've always been a good girl and have done everything that everybody else wanted me to do/be. I was looking for love and validation. I never found it. My mother (who was very controlling and verbally abusive) wanted me to be a nurse, so I went to nursing school. I hated it. It wasn't what I wanted to do at all. I've always been good at math and loved working with figures and I was good at it. I should have pursued that path. Nope. Got married at 19 because back in 1964, that was the career most girls went for. That was a total disaster. Did I learn anything? Nope. Kept making the same mistakes over and over. Now, at 74, I'm regretting wasting my life FOR other people that never cared about me or what I wanted. I didn't know how to stand on my own two feet and take care of myself. I was very sheltered growing up and very naïve about life. I think I still am. I doubt I'll ever grow up.....sigh :(
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Sound like you had a good heart and still have , and so what if you never grow up
be young at heart be well
 
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A big No. It's a story of wild goose chases, wishful thinking, mazes and turmoil.
But to appearances, my life looks all right to others.
 

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