Better. From the outside, you could argue that I have gone from relatively well off to squeezing a nickel until the Native American is riding the Buffalo. Riches to rags.
But spiritually, mentally and to some degree physically, I have improved. Life is much like the stock exchange. One day riding high and the next the rug gets pulled out from under you. As I get older it’s easier to stay calm, knowing I will likely survive whatever happens and also knowing this too shall pass.
@chasingMonday Everyone carries their own story, and it would be unfair to assume that any human being goes through life without difficult times. That’s just life; every soul carries its share of pain.
Those hard times prepared me for a better life instead of letting me drown. So no, those hard times were not the worst parts of my life; they were the blessings in disguise, indeed.
Both. There has been more pain, more loss, more disillusionment and disappointment, more fear and anxiety. All of that has brought more gratitude, more awareness of who I am and what really matters to me, more compassion and empathy, more strength and confidence in my resilience, more acceptance and less fruitless expectation. Some of us really do need the dark to see the light.
@chasingMonday It is hard to see the death of my husband as a blessing. I am okay with acknowledging blessings, but I don't run away from natural grief either.
Better. The more years I go..........the more time I have to increase my self worth. And though money isn't everything............it sure does buy everything........including peace of mind and security,
@chasingMonday too many things to list.. live and learn i guess.. we cant go back in time and change our past we can only understand it better and forgive ourselves and others for being stupid and ignorant and misguided is all .. cause if we knew better we wouldn't do dumb stuff
Better since retirement All my life I worked hard, sometimes two/three jobs per day sometimes seven days a week.
Never knew the meaning of the word "home". At the time my parents had to come visit me at my job. So I asked them,"What are you doing here ?" They replied, "You never come to visit us."
Now retired and enjoying it all, no aches, no pain, and no broken bones. Spend all my days, sleeping, eating and whatever pleases me. No responsibilities except for myself.
Well, life generally tends to be a bell-shaped curve -- it keeps getting better financially, raising kids, that empty nest period where you return more to a single life with a more solid underpinning, until age and health issues and their impact hit. So far I would have to say that the latter downside of that bell curve has been more of a slowly sloping plateau than a sharp drop. Burying both my wife and subsequent partner and now living alone, serving two cats, while combating two forms of cancer have not been easy adjustments. Otoh, I am still fully active, fully mobile, in good financial shape, and have supportive kids and grandkids which a lot of -- if not most of -- those in my age bracket cannot say, if they are even alive to speak.
