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What If You Could Do It All Over?

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Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#401

Post by redisman »

gfxgirl wrote: post #379
kodah wrote: post #84

Much of my life hasn't played out how I expected. I had dreams like many people in high school and none of them came true. Instead of finishing college I joined the military after the stock market collapse in 2008/9. Impressions were left on me throughout my early life that I only came to know as an adult. My family got sick, I ruined the relationship that I'd worked for, and at times I alienated people close to me o…

Obviously if you think digital nomad live is for you then go for it. For me I want friends and companionship. My experience is that's not what nomads get. Friends requires you to be near by and spend time when them else they drift way. Sure you can keep in touch online but you won't really be a part of their life nor them a part of yours if you're not there to share your life with them. The same goes for a long term…

Depends too. If you’ve moved around a bunch already then your friends are probably scattered around and you don’t get to see them much. If you’re RVing around maybe you’ll see them more

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#402

Post by redisman »

rklaehn wrote: post #276

I wasted a lot of time in my life. I was into C++ programming many years before the first dotcom boom. But I did not really profit from it. Instead I studied for many years, then slacked off for a few years, and only started working full time as a software engineer at the age of 30, working on satellite operations and the ground system of the international space station. I could have been a millionaire many times ove…

I wasn’t working yet in 2000 but I’ve talked to a lot of people who were and the median outcome was that your stock wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on in the end.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#403

Post by redisman »

sokoloff wrote: post #103
jackcosgrove wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently became acquainted with the teachings of Epicurus. He advocated living a simple life of simple pleasures surrounded by friends. It's almost a truism that seeking fame and fortune is a route to unhappiness. Not necessarily because these are bad things, but because the desires that drive these choices seem to be insatiable.

For me, (very) modest fortune and essentially zero fame seems to be the ideal situation. Like a paid off house, a nest egg that throws off $10K/month, and only family/friends know who I am.

Hah $10k/mo is modest? I agree I just want to retire in a forest or island a few hours from a major metropolitan area.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#404

Post by Bellamy »

Bellamy wrote: post #399
victorronin wrote: post #227

This is a fascinating subject. It looks like many people are commenting about alternative realities and that exploring them is a fool's game (BTW. I concur with that). The thing which bothers me is upbeat comments about living here and now and planting the seeds for future changes. It feels like current problems (and desire to wish them away via woulda/counda/shoulda) didn't happen entirely randomly. These problems a…

There are tools like Habinator to change your long term behavior. You just need to know what you want, which is the tricky part.

https://habinator.com

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#405

Post by redisman »

fy20 wrote: post #271

Last year I had my first kid, and it has really got me thinking about a lot of things in life including whether I want to continue my career in software developer. Sure the pay is good, it's a pretty cushy job (compared to something like a labourer), and I feel I'm pretty good at what I do... but I wish for something more fulfilling. I just feel that in my career path, all my jobs have been about making other people…

I would recommend keeping it for a few years. Working from home is a godsend for infants and toddlers. I’m also often thinking what else could I do but the problem is that almost no career is portable like software engineering. There are credentials and local requirements and relationships which are not as important in software.

My current thinking is to de-emphasize work for the kid years. Maybe get a more boring stable job with minimal hours and focus on the kids. There are a lot of adventures and experiences with them that no job will replicate.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#406

Post by sokoloff »

redisman wrote: post #403
sokoloff wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, (very) modest fortune and essentially zero fame seems to be the ideal situation. Like a paid off house, a nest egg that throws off $10K/month, and only family/friends know who I am.

Hah $10k/mo is modest? I agree I just want to retire in a forest or island a few hours from a major metropolitan area.

As an adjectival modifier of "fortune"? It seems to qualify.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#407

Post by redisman »

_nckn wrote: post #95

I always consider my life is strange. Born in a 3rd world country in a broken home, families fight like in drama, many divorces and remarriage. I went where whoever my current father at that time went, moving from city to city, school to school. Then I find myself in the US, from odd jobs such as dry clean, laundry, sushi, deli, to church admin, to now working as SWE in one of big US tech company in NYC. Married a wi…

That’s the life of an immigrant. You lose the concept of “home”. You can try to build one for the next generation but for you it’s most likely gone forever. It’s very strange because I don’t feel at home in my new country but I’ve also been gone for so long that my old country feels just as alien.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#408

Post by redisman »

paulpauper wrote: post #346

How does this guy know so much. Reading this article is like an phone book of name drops and references. I know ppl with master's degrees who do not even know nearly as much. I should have stayed in school longer and done more reading so I would know more. I guess that answers the question of what I would do I if had to do it allover again. Sure beats what I am doing now. I think being a success writer is one of the…

I thought it was a bit too referential and it kept breaking the flow of the article. I get it you got an advanced English degree now let’s get on with it

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#409

Post by F_J_H »

adrianN wrote: post #321
shortandsweet wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume it's not your fault?

A large part of life is just luck. Think of all the chance events that had a big impact on your life. For me for example, almost all my success hinges on me randomly seeing a certain poster in a hallway in 2008.

Some people are quite good at increasing their "luck surface area".

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#410

Post by smileysteve »

gfxgirl wrote: post #380
indigochill wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What’s the life well lived metric? I grew up Christian, and among Christian young people a common question was "What's God's plan for my life?" In that context, I came across Micah 6:8 which spells it out about as plainly as you'll find anywhere: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" That seems like a…

I'm going to say I find this a very poor POV. The Christian POV is basically, "it doesn't matter how bad your life is because it will be great in the after life". In other words the good parts are ahead, period. But if you don't believe then there is no guaranteed good parts ahead and the line above has no meaning.

This is a mainstream American, one might even suggest evangelical POV of Christianity.

Theologians, especially non American, drastically believe that the American Church has perverted heaven and evolution.

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