Thread: Are You Happy?

I was thinking about posting this a while back but was prompted today by reading gssixgun's Lifetime Goal thread.

All things considered in your life...are you happy? Are you where you want to be at this point. Are their goals not yet achieved, personally, financially, spiritually, profesionally, etc..... ? Are you currently living the life you want and if not do you have a plan to change things?


Are there things you WANT to change? Are there things you WILL change?

I'm more interested in those over which we have control rather than those imposed by illiness or the like that we simply must learn to endure.

If anyone wants to share I'm sure it could serve as inspiration to others to possibly make changes themselves. I think a mention of your age and whether you have a partner in life may help too as I think we feel differently about some things as we grow older or if we share a life with someone else.

I'll join back in myself later but didn't want to set the tone for this right now.

Thanks,
Tony

I'm kinda upset about nicking my strop last night (sorry Tony ), but otherwise I'm pretty content. I have many, many goals I have not yet achieved, in all the areas you mentioned...but I'm only 25 years old. I'm happy with where I am, and I feel that I am on the path to achieving all the things I want in life. I enjoy my work and take pride in it, and I have hobbies that are fulfilling to me. And most importantly I have wonderful people around me that I love...what more could a man ask for?

Good thread

Well obviously at this moment in time Tony I am on top of the world,
In general though yes I am pretty happy overall, I always wanted a small ranch in the mountains with my own shop and shooting range, I worked hard for 25 years in some huge Nightclubs, retired at 42 and moved to exactly that..... I have a great retirement job doing Finance for a small Ford dealership, where I can basically do nothing, until there is a deal on my desk...
I am married to a truly great woman, that I love, YA!!!! I am pretty darn happy right now !!!!!
Thanks for asking

I'm 43 now and work in law enforcement which is what I always wanted to do.

I have served just over 22 years and have under 8 to go until I can retire.

Professionaly I have acheived all the goals I set out to acheive at the start of my career. This leaves me with the problem of finding other goals to set myself as I am a goal driven individual. Str8 razor shaving is one of them.

Over time I have learnt that those nearest to you, that you thought you could trust, cannot always be trusted. That said, I have a wonderful daughter from my first marriage and I now also have a wonderful wife, whom I have been with for nearly 5 years.

Sometimes it feels like life throws you a low ball, but faith is a great support.

I consider myself very fortunate.

I'm 60 years old and am retired from Federal law Enforcement. Some medical issues keep me from doing many of the things I had planned on doing after retirement but I just substituted other things. I have been married over 30 years and live in the southwest so all in all I really can't complain about things. I don't think I would go back and do anything differently than things worked out if I had that opportunity. So when I look at my life right now I consider myself very fortunate.

NO! So far from happy its nuts. I'm 46 and in the grind of working like mad, living where I don't like just to make money, spending it all needlessly on stupid stuff (lots of which I don't even care about) and trying to deal with my Dad, who, for example, I took to a wedding today even though he was convinced it was a birthday party (he has been losing his mind for a few years now).

My wife is 32 but looks like she is 17 and still gets carded. We have a little bit in common (about as much as you can expect with the age gap). But I sure get weird stares anyway.

My only son died two years ago leaving me with nothing to show for the only real purpose I think a Father has.

I spend my work days consulting the government and trying to make sense out of the most horrific organizational management conflicts you could ever imagine, (sometimes its like trying to get a room full of 8 year olds to cooperate).

Every evening I work on completing a degree I only need to get ahead and write papers so that teachers that haven't accomplised a damn thing in their lives can complain about things they don't know anything about, but are amazed that I can spell correctly.

But, and this is an important one, I can still get on my motorcycle and just ride, let it all wash off me, even for a few minutes and keep going through with this stuff because, technically, I should be happy. I'm just not really sure why, but to be honest, I'm just really not.

Someday I picture me moving far, far, away and focusing on a very different set of interests, because I think this life is something you have to really be clear about as far as its meaning for you as a person.

I'm 34 and actually writing my PhD in Mediaeval Philosophy (no no, it's not a joke...) I've worked to pay my studies (with also the generous help from my parents and a loan) since I was 14 and now, for the first time ever, one year before finishing, I am jobless, but with enough work to do that I could drown under it (that's the problem when you're writing a thesis: you will always have enough work to do, but not that many people interested to pay you for doing it). I have already published an article and a few book reviews, but it doesn't seem to be enough... the big problem is: I need to work to finish my PhD but nobody wants to hire me if I don't have it (and those who could - to teach in college for example - don't want to hire a man who will go away after one or two years; and doing something completely different will only delay me from obtaining the desired diploma).

I'm living with my wife in a ridiculously small rented apartment (a little less than 35 square meters), filled with books (she is also studying at the university but managed to get a 60% job for two years), cheap or second hand furnitures, no car...

Our heads are full with hopes and projects, having children, decent jobs, a little house we can own, a garden... and we are really busy trying to achieve them.

So am I happy ? I mean, I have a wonderful wife I love, I have an interesting work I like, I have a roof on my head, I have friends and hobbies (all this wet shaving stuff arrived just in time to change my routine, make me happy in the morning and help me take the day with the right foot). So, even in this valley of tears, I can say I am happy, struggling through this world to find my place in the society (I've already found where I belong). I am confident I will find it. I just hope the struggle will not last too long...

And, oh yes, last but not least, faith helps; without it I will only be like an empty basket on a river; thank God, He gives us hope and strength. I think that life is more a way to holiness than to happiness... Happiness is something more like a state of mind we can achieve than something we will receive, like a reward.

I suppose the fact that we are all here doing this means a certain level of happiness - contentment is great gain! Couldn't resist sticking in a bit of Burns below - a phrase I find myself saying a lot since I lost my mum and dad in the last few years is "catch the moments as they fly". I am just about to finish my last assignment before dissertation and then I am off up the hills for a few days with some mates. Great wife, daughter, all healthy and enough 'credits' to see us alright. It hasn't always been like that nor will it in the future, I am sure, so catch the moments as they fly man!


Here's A Bottle
by Robert Burns

There's nane that's blest of human kind
But the cheerful and the gay, man.
Here's a bottle and an honest friend!
What wad ye wish for mair, man?
Wha kens, before his life may end,
What his share may be o' care, man? Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man!
Believe me, Happiness is shy,
And comes not ay when sought, man!

I’m very happy and content with my life, but then my wife and I have made a life that not only requires constant change but embraces it. We were together for about a year and had talked about our dream and goal of sailing around the world for a lifetime of adventure, so we decided to start living it. We put the house up for sale, sold most of our stuff on ebay and gave away the rest to family and friends. We bought a repossessed boat in Connecticut, had it trucked down to Florida, and are now living on it and getting her ready to sail around the world.

I’m 39 years old and had made a decision to start living my life the way that I wanted to live it instead of waiting for retirement. I gave up on that career and working all my life type dream long ago. I met and married a woman with the same life goals and motivation to live our dreams, but it wasn’t a matter of luck. We both believe that the universe gives you what you ask for, and as far as we are concerned, we are living proof of that philosophy.

To find out more about us, you can read our website (www.remetau.com).

Don

Great post by the way.

That depends entirely upon how much I've had to drink :-d

but seriously, yeah, I'm pretty happy. I mean, I have my good days and bad days like everyone else, but on the whole I think I'm doing ok. I have a decent job to earn money, a decent car to drive, a decent house
to live in, a decent wife to ****, and a few decent razors to shave with so life is good.

I agree with the previous poster who said that you get to pick your attitude, that is so true. In modern society it is easy to get hung up on what you have not yet accomplished and what you haven't yet aquired, and so feel unhappy with life. I am guilty of this, too, and have to remind myself, "hey, I'm not doing so badly, I have everything I need and many things that I want, I am reasonably healthy and sane, I've really got nothing to complain about." Spirituality plays a big part in my satisfaction with life, but that's another thread. (think JMS had a poll about this back in the day)

That said, I am not yet a rockstar-billionaire-astronaut, so I haven't accomplished all my goals. But I'm only 26, I may get there someday.