Re-reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio, Adam Smith, Marx, and others. Home repair projects long-neglected.
Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
331–340 of 545 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish I could do that but I only think this is possible by getting a job in the US or Switzerland. They’re both not easy to get if you’re not a citizen there. There was even this Swiss recruiter that scours HN, but after he finds out you’re a recent college grad he vanishes. At least, in my case. Maybe not in other cases.
This isn't even that common in the US. Sure, there's a chance of retiring early. For most of us, that won't happen prior to age 50, if at all.
It's not common at all in Switzerland, either, at least from what I can tell after living here for years. Salaries for lower-level positions tend to be higher than in the US, but I highly doubt these would be enough to retire quite so early. Total compensation for highly-skilled positions is often lower than in the US. However, the cost of living can be relatively low if one is willing to live frugally, but quickly balloons as services are outsourced (e.g. eating out).
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#333Surviving cancer.
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#334Re-reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, Adam Smith, Marx, and others. Home repair projects long-neglected.
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't even that common in the US. Sure, there's a chance of retiring early. For most of us, that won't happen prior to age 50, if at all.
It's not common at all, but it's very achievable for most engineers in the US if they're willing to live below their means. Engineers in the US make 2-3x the median income. The difference in disposable income is even greater when you subtract off the costs of necessities. And yet, those other people aren't working 2-3x as many years. It may mean not going out to eat all the time, not buying a fancy new car all the ti…
"it's very achievable for most engineers in the US"
I feel like this isn't true at all for retiring prior to age 50.
You have to adjust for cost of living and the area's median income. The median income in my state is $60k-65k and my salary is about $85k. I'm a midlevel dev in the industry for 9 years (no way could I retire at 15-20 years, even for a lower paying job). I also have a family to support. I do live within my means, but that doesn't mean much with the moderately high cost of living in this area.
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#336Such a pandemic cliche: making sourdough bread. Takes all day. Took about 3 or 4 tries until I got the hang of it. Now I make two loaves every weekend. Tastier than anything I've bought at a store. Started with Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2020/07/how-to-make-sour... Settled at Tartine Country Bread: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016277-tartines-country... Makes me happy every time.
Same! Received a cast iron pan set that doubles as a Dutch oven as a gift. Since then I've been making the most delicious sourdough pizzas.
I'm annoyed with myself that I ate crappy frozen pizzas/takeaway for so long, when I should have been cooking from scratch using a cast iron pan or pizza stone.
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#337Quitting porn. At age 45, having been addicted since first finding I could download over 1200 baud dialup on my parents phone line and watching Cinemax late night through the static, it has just been a thing in my life almost daily and honestly I'd given up on caring whether it was a bad thing or not. I'd felt guilty about it sometimes, and sure, tried to quit on a number of occasions, but always ended up back within…
What became different after you quit?
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#338My wife and building a 3D printer for fun.
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#339Quitting porn. At age 45, having been addicted since first finding I could download over 1200 baud dialup on my parents phone line and watching Cinemax late night through the static, it has just been a thing in my life almost daily and honestly I'd given up on caring whether it was a bad thing or not. I'd felt guilty about it sometimes, and sure, tried to quit on a number of occasions, but always ended up back within…
What downside(s) did you experience, that led you to want to give it up?
From an outsider’s perspective, I’m wondering why spending time watching porn is ultimately much different from time spent with any other sedentary pastime?
Re: Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?
#340Listen my good man. Life is short. Realize that first. It will make some choices much easier.
I tend to use a life barometer, where I set my expectation for how long i hope to live.
From there on i try to make some choices. Not right of the bat. I use some time to stabilize the thoughts to pinpoint the near exact feeling i wish to obtain.
I have during the last 10 years found out by doing this that my ultimate feeling for being happy is freedom as a state of mind.
I use 20-30% of time sailing my sailboat and riding my bike. I sleep at least 7 hours every day and work 5-6 hours a day.
I run a small consultancy company and hope i can do so until i am at least 70. I like to work, not hard, but towards goals which are not bound on pitential financial gains.
Live your life and take it in.