What has surprised you the most about life?

WheatenLover said:
Mostly I think it is fear of the unknown, and fear of having a painful or otherwise difficult death. Or maybe they love life so much that they just want to stay alive. They are afraid they will die before they are ready to lose their lives.
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Yeah, I guess that’s all possible. I would be safe in saying we have all known someone that died before their time and it’s sad when we are sitting at the service and the minister makes it a point by saying the person has left us too soon or before his time or anything that reflects that. We all know that we aren’t guaranteed any specific amount of time here on earth and have heard that we should all live today as if it was our last. I never have given death much thought other than what to do with my remains.

If you were ever in the service and in a battle or firefight, you are at danger of having your candle put out before your time. We know that and we accept that as a possibility. Fear drives us to kill the enemy before the enemy kills us. The irony is that the enemy is thinking the same thing.
 
WheatenLover said:
Mostly I think it is fear of the unknown, and fear of having a painful or otherwise difficult death. Or maybe they love life so much that they just want to stay alive. They are afraid they will die before they are ready to lose their lives.
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I have always thought I am not afraid to die, just afraid of what I may have to endure before I get there.
 

I have been surprised at how nostalgic I've become as I've gotten older. I'm not a nostalgic person. I have always moved on from the past and looked toward the future.

I've recently reached out on Facebook to some high school friends and friends I knew in the 80's and they have responded in a very warm and welcoming way. Now we just have to figure out how to capsulize over 40 years of our lives that have happened in the interim.
 
hollydolly said:
I think what's surprised me most about 'life' is something that isn't alive as we know it, trying to warn me of impending disasters ...

I get predictions in my dreams.. very real, frighteningly real that haunt me over and over.. .. many times in my life, I get them over and over again.. take a warning, take heed... but altho' I talk about them to people I just feel that I'm not in any position to prevent what the dreams are telling me..

For example, from being a tiny child.. maybe from the age of 9 or 10 I would have dreams that my mother died.. I would be sobbing.. I was never a child who cried, very stoic child usually but this would make me sob , and my mother would come, and say there's no need to worry..but still I'd have the dreams her assurances didn't comfort me.... and sure enough when I was a teen she died..

In between those times..I've dreamt , those frightenly real and upsetting nightmares about other things which have all come to pass...

The most recent was during the whole year of 2020 and half of 2021.. I had recurrent nightmares, probably twice a week. Again so real, that I;d be calling out in my sleep, my husband would tell me he heard me calling..talking.. ... .. . It was always the same, my husband was having an affair, he was going to do several other things that would cause me great anguish, and I'd wake up in a cold sweat, heart completely bursting from my chest, so much I would think I was about to have a heart attack..they were just as real as if they had happened already..

I'd relate the dream to him and he would assure me there was no chance of any of that happening, but still the dreams occurred, and eventually he would say.... I suppose I was doing wrong again in your dream last night..but I could never do that to you..

Out of the blue in the middle of 2021.. during the lockdown, I discovered he was indeed having an affair, and had been for several months.. and everything that played out in my nightmares went on to occur within days of me discovering.. horrendous situation which was completely out of my control...

I only give these 2 examples out of many in my life... because something.. ''someone'' it's warning me of things.. ahead of time.. things that are going to be the most devastating or things that I'm supposed to know... ... that's the biggest surprise for me in life,...and I wish if it;s about to happen whoever is warning me .. would have the power to stop it..

One day I'll discover who or what is behind it all
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I've also had several experiences like that so you are not alone. There is a name for it but I can't recall what it is so I'll have to do some research. Maybe Google meaning of dreams or premonitions.
My ex-husband was on my mind a lot for several days so I decided to call him only to find out he had been in an accident in Mexico and just returned to the States. As a young bride I was puzzled why I had a dream about another man in my closet, second time worked out much better with wisdom and careful choice.
Other times, for several months I had a dream I was hit by a truck in an intersection, it happened about a year on.
 
DebraMae said:
I was trying to come up with the word for that and was having a senior moment and could not think of it. It is EMPATH. Some of us who were abused learned very early to be very tuned in to what was going on with those around us. It was a way of protecting ourselves. We probably do it unconsciously.
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Exactly, we know to keep our mouth shut and always be on alert. It has served me well when reading some situations and now my husband seems to know to listen when I see things differently.
My parents were divorced when I was four, six months later my dad died. A fuzzy time for a while but eventually we could go play with the neighborhood kids again. I will never forget them laughing as they said "ha, ha, ha, your daddy is died". Their cruelty cut so deep and to this day I can't understand it. Other people's cruelty (just watch the evening news) still confounds me. Grandma was sent to the U.S. from Lviv when she was 14, today the war is just as painful to me....Why?
 
JustDave said:
You would think so. I grew up in Chicago. Those were my formative years. I didn't like it and left for Montana when I was 17, where I made many new friends in a comfortable new niche. But local society changed as I got older. In mid life, I became friends with a couple from a big city who had moved to the area. Now these were country folk at heart, and eventually moved on to the Alaskan bush country.

But we were talking about the differences between city and country, and they observed that, "In the city people minded their own business, and didn't care what others did." That did not reflect the formative years I remembered in Chicago, and I still puzzle today over whether they nailed an actual difference, or just a personal experience.

Maybe part of it has to do with what part of life you are in. Although, I cannot imagine ever living in a big city ever again, as attractive as they made it sound, but from which those friends of mine escaped anyway.
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I totally agree with them. City people are too busy and there are so many around they don't have enough time to stick their nose where it doesn't belong. Now, living in a smaller city I have learned to not say much to my neighbors because they gossip so much but there are a few who are the salt of the earth types.
 
BiffH said:
I’m bored most of the time. Have you found any solutions?
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I know you're asking Judycat but we all probably have different answers to that.

For me, when I get bored, I figure it's because I'm boring. So I try to change it up by coming up with something to do or work on that that will interest me which, when shared, will in turn likely interest others...and that becomes interesting. It's more interesting to work at being really good at it or a bit of an expert at it.

The challenge takes away any boredom. Of course there are those who won't be interested at all...that's okay because there are enough who will....and I for one will not be bored.
 
DebraMae said:
My daughter asked what had most surprised me about my life. I can think of several things, but the most recent would have to be that a couple of people from long ago have attempted to "make amends" for something that happened over fifty years ago. One of them I didn't even remember. What has surprised you?
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I am surprised at how much God loves us because us people can really suck. I am just surprised by His mercy and grace.
 
JustDave said:
All of this resonates with me very much. I was going to comment on the last paragraph, but while trying to find the words, I have to agree with that one too.
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I am surprised at God’s love for us. I am surprised by His mercy and grace. We are to love one another as God loves us…. It’s very challenging to love some of these folks I see, know or meet. Very hard.
 
Aprilbday12 said:
I am surprised at God’s love for us. I am surprised by His mercy and grace. We are to love one another as God loves us…. It’s very challenging to love some of these folks I see, know or meet. Very hard.
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There are 3 kinds of Love...(Greek)
1. Brotherly Love (Philia)
2. Romantic Love (Eros)
3. God's Unconditional Love (Agape)

It's natural for it to be a challenge for us to love the unloveable.
I also have trouble loving the unlovable so I prayerfully love them with God's love (Agape love).
It's harder to love the unloveable....and easy to love the loveable.
But we will receive extra blessings for doing what is harder in obedience.
`
 
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MountainRa said:
It has surprised me to learn how easily close family relationships (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) simply fade away as as one approaches one’s senior years.
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This was a surprise to my Huzz but not to me since I've observed that happening for years but he keeps thinking that there should be the big family get-together gathering as in ages past (when most of the women in his family never worked outside the home so were able to go all out for holiday gatherings, for instance house decorated to the 9s and a huge feast held). I keep telling him, "Your nieces and nephews aren't able to do all that like your mom, aunts, sister, etc., did; they're all working all the time and living in small apartments, etc." He keeps wanting the past, though.
 
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