Pose a question to the group:

[Homicidalheathen]

I mean, right now. At this moment where your sitting.

Do you feel you have accomplished most of what you planed for your life up to this point and are you satisified with the outcome?

Me, well yes and no. I feel I have accomplished what I wanted to on some levels but maybe not how I had planned for it to come about.

And in some ways I still feel lost and backsliding.

You?

[Rayne]

Yes and no.

It would take wayyyyy too long to explain.

In a way I have accomplished more than I had planned.

But in other ways, less.

I'm fairly satisfied with my life today -- with a few exceptions, but I do see those things getting easier and better in the near future.

[HipsterDufus]

Well, this is going to deserve a somewhat complex answer. As with both of you, my answer is both yes and no:

Yes:

1) I have a lovely wife and person to share my life with.

2) I make enough money to survive on and have some fun.

3) I've traveled quite a bit for a 24 year old. I've been to London, Mexico, Toronto, Montreal, New York City, Chicago (I'm guessing everyone's been there).

No:

1) I was hoping at this point in my life that I would be somewhere artistically. I've always been into music and I eventually wanted to make a career out of it. I used to write music on my computer quite a bit and my skills were improving until I started working a 40 hour a week job. Then my motivation just kind of died and my attempts to return to writing music have all failed. After "a long day at the office", I have a hard time feeling creative and motivated. I hate the idea that I'm becoming an American worker-drone, but I don't really know what I can do to stop it. If I were to quit my job and go back to working part time, I'd have to sell my house, cars, etc. And though Sarah would support me if I really wanted to do it, I've tried and given up so many times that I just can't justify uprooting our lives for something that I might not succeed at again. I'd also like to try my hand at being a writer and I've been thinking about writing a novel for the last 6 months, but again, my creativity and motivation feel drained out of me when I get home and I haven't started it.

2) I don't really like where I am spirtually right now in my life. I was hoping to have grown a lot more in these years than I have. Mostly what I know in spirituality are the things that I don't like, rather than working on what I do like. And while I understand the basic concepts of what I currently am "into" (paganism), I haven't really developed any of my beliefs, since my decision to "choose" this belief system. Again, time is a factor. I have so many interests and things to do that I don't really have time to read books on it and work on developing myself. Which brings me to #3...

3) I'd like to read more in general. I feel like I'm getting more and more stupid each day that I don't read and try and expand my horizons.

So yeah. It's hard examining all of these different aspects of how I feel about my life. Good question though.

[Nevaeh]

i would say no if i was comparing my current life to that of what i had planned out for myself at the age of 18 or so.

i'm waaaay behind my goals...but i am very happy and i am accomplishing things...just at a different pace than originally planned.

at 18 i was so goal oriented and so ambitious that i sometimes get frustrated with myself and how i do things now...i've learned alot about life and about who i am, and thats a more important lesson to learn in life.

[Head Wreck]

23.

still no hareem

nor a kickass 1940's hearse or limo on the drive

definatly no ninja superskills

and definatly cant crush foes with psychic powers.

ho-hum...

[The_Dark]

I never really got around to making a plan for life.. I've been busy living it.

[Daevion]

NO.....I made the mistake of leaving my job at EMU to make more money at pfizer...now the evil empire has me under their thumb. I got greedy because the university wasn't paying me what I wanted nor were they giving me the hours I wanted. So...I shot myself in the foot. Now...every single day feels like hell...

[Onyx]

I don't ever think I will be able to say that I am finished, have reached my goals and am content. It's just not *me*. I need goals to reach toward no matter what.

I am fairly happy with where I am at the moment in some parts of my life, but there are a lot of things I am trying to improve and change.

Life is all about the journey and the connections we make along the way.

[Daevion]

Its funny because even tho I have more money, car, cloths, eyeballs,etc......I felt so much more alive when I was working and taking classes at emu. I feel so empty now......I could think clearly and quickly.....now it feels like they're is a fog in my head. Working at pfizer has done something to me....like worn down by the daily grind or something. =(

[HipsterDufus]

Its funny because even tho I have more money, car, cloths, eyeballs,etc......I felt so much more alive when I was working and taking classes at emu. I feel so empty now......I could think clearly and quickly.....now it feels like they're is a fog in my head. Working at pfizer has done something to me....like worn down by the daily grind or something.  =(

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, you pretty much captured how I feel. It really is true what they say about how money isn't everything. I enjoyed life a heck of a lot more when I wasn't worn down by the daily grind and I had the time and energy to explore my real interests.

[Shade Everdark]

No, no, and hell no.

[Fierce Critter]

My goals in life keep changing. So I don't think I'll ever have reached one ultimate goal.

I'm comfortable right now. We're about to take some steps to increase that comfort. So right now, things are on a good, even keel.

After the start of the year, however, we'll be looking at moving to a bigger place possibly, so once again - new goals.

I'm not where I thought I would be or hoped I would be when I looked to the future as a kid/teenager/young adult. I'm not touring the world singing/fronting a band. I'm not living in upper Michigan. I'm not a size 6 .

But I have a good husband, great pets, I'm self-employed, and living in an area I've really come to appreciate.

So all's well.

[kellygrrrrrl]

Yes & No.

I love my Job, & I love my husband.

No - Why?

I woiuld like to be making more so I work less and have more time to travel.

I don't have any kids yet...I would like to have children someday.

I want to go to the following places before I die:

The Grand Canyon

Yellowstone

Alaska

Ireland

The Amazon

I never imagined that I would be an Insurance Agent.....I just kind of fell into it. I always wanted to be a Vet. Or A cartoonist/painter/illustrator etc....

[Homicidalheathen]

I can totally relate to Hipsterdufus. That is where I was a couple years ago then I sick and lost my job too...now I really do feel worthless in the career part.

At the time we had the band going and both had full time jobs and I really think it wore me out as I was band manager. I had to yell at people all day and night.

I think we get tired as we get older too, I am 40 so I don't have the energy to go all day and night now. My man is the keyboard player and his hours just got upped so he doesn't know if or when he will ever get back into it.

Headwreck you crack me up. A harem....yah well I don't have man sex slaves either so there. Heh.

[Draco1958]

Without going into an explaination that would bore people I have to say NO. I wish things were different but they aren't. And with how things are currently, I don't see much changing for the better other than a long permament sleep.

[bean]

When I was 18, I didn't think I would be alive at 25, so I went through the motions of going to school and working at shitty job after shitty job, not having any plans or goals.

Now, at 25, I'm not entirely sure I will see 30, but I am making an effort in what I do these days. I think about the things I would like to do and how I can do them. I really like my job, but I wish I made more money.

I would love to travel all over the world and live in different places, constantly moving somewhere new to learn about a new culture and live a different way. Living in one place for a long time bores me.

I never thought I would get married, but here I am, married and on the brink of divorce. I never plan on getting married again and I have no desire to have children.

I would love to go to school and get my PhD in psychology. Then go back to school and take classes in whatever else interests me, and maybe get more degrees in various things.

I hope to have all my poetry/short stories published some day.

Do I feel like I have accomplished anything? Yes. I am alive. For me that is a big accomplishment, from what life was like at 17/18 to now.

[saechalyn]

Ugh, NO.

5 years ago I was in graduate school at Columbia University. Now I'm (for lack of a better term) a secretary. It's nice to work for an organization I believe in but my specific job is dull and going nowhere and essentially brainless. I am so sick and fucking tired of living paycheck to paycheck all the time. I can take care of myself and have a little fun but I have made no headway on my student loans and saving is out of the question. If my car dies I am completely fucked.

I used to be smart. I used to read philosophy books for fun. I feel like I've become such a mindless twit. I hate that.

[Rayne]

I used to be smart.  I used to read philosophy books for fun.  I feel like I've become such a mindless twit.  I hate that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know what you mean.

[HipsterDufus]

I used to be smart.  I used to read philosophy books for fun.  I feel like I've become such a mindless twit.  I hate that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Reading this thread has kind of made me feel a little bit better about where I'm at in life. There's just so much more that I (and from what I've read, most of you) want out of life. I think it's better to have it that way. It seems to me that to be totally satisfied is to be stagnant. What do you guys think?

[saechalyn]

It seems to me that to be totally satisfied is to be stagnant.  What do you guys think?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totally agree. I would rather be the bitter little malcontent that I am (and at least hold on to the desire for more, even if I am not always striving for it) than be content with mediocrity.

[DarkVampire]

Far from it. Not married nor even a girlfriend for that matter, I have a degree that I don't use, finacially "getting by" barely, and other bullshit.

I write stuff I never finish, I don't complete things I start basically. I procrastinate over shit and it pisses me off but I can't seem to get pass it.

There is no joy in my life, just another fucking dreary day. There is no love only fucking emptiness that has been with me so for fucking long I don't know any other feeling.

So no I am not any where near the the ideas and plans I had in place 15 years ago. If I was to die tomorrow I could really care less.xjhgc

[Homicidalheathen]

I hear you but lay off the bottle of sleeping pills for now ok? You sound real down dude. Your scaring me.

We love you.

Far from it. Not married nor even a girlfriend for that matter, I have a degree that I don't use, finacially "getting by" barely, and other bullshit.

I write stuff I never finish, I don't complete things I start basically. I procrastinate over shit and it pisses me off but I can't seem to get pass it.

There is no joy in my life, just another fucking dreary day. There is no love only fucking emptiness that has been with me so for fucking long I don't know any other feeling.

So no I am not any where near the the ideas and plans I had in place 15 years ago. If I was to die tomorrow I could really care less.xjhgc

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[JaneDead]

I never really got around to making a plan for life.. I've been busy living it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i like this answer the best

i myself never made plans for life. i just know there are things i didn't want to do like be a drug addict or be homeless or end up in jail. so far so good.

[gothicmom]

I never really set any goals for myself. Mostly I wanted to be a good wife and a good mother. I thnk I'm doing fairly well with both.

My husband has quite a few goals laid out. He's reached 3 in the last year!

[gothicmom]

Oh yeah, I'm not where I want to be spiritually. The hard part is, is that I don't even know where that is. I've been looking for something for awhile now and I can't figure out what it is. I thought I had it about 2 years ago, I was close I thought, then I lost it and it never came back. I tried to do the things I was doing before, but it wasn't the same.