3 ms·
I'm quite happy now, and the subjective 'goodness' of my life as it is, does indeed come from being content with and making the most of what I have, even though
by psyc 9y ago
I'm quite happy now, and the subjective 'goodness' of my life as it is, does indeed come from being content with and making the most of what I have, even though I suspect many people would find it really bad and out of balance along the usual dimensions.
I'll say a little bit about my personal perception of life's length. I've always thought it was long. Too long. And I still do. My school-age years lasted an eternity, and that was an eternity ago. From 18-22, when I was homeless, lasted an eternity, and that was an eternity ago. From 22-28, my early career when I was struggling to establish myself, was an eternity. From 28-34, when I had the most material comfort, career success, world travel, friends, hobbies, and lovers... well of course that went by too fast, but boy was it packed! From 34-38, when I struggled and suffered after the onset of Bipolar 1, and slowly learning to live with it while struggling with spotty employment, ruined credit, alienation, and more homelessness, was an eternity. The next 2 years, when I finally got around to doing the work I really wanted to do, flew by in a blur of happy 100+ hour weeks. Now I'm 40, and time is going faster, but it's possible that life is only half over. On one hand, that seems incomprehensible to me. How can I only be half-done? If I learned I would definitely die tomorrow, I would still consider my life to have been very, very long, and very full. But in another sense, no amount of time is enough to do all the work I want to do. I have at least a dozen large project ideas, designed on paper in a fair amount of detail, that life is too short to do. I probably have enough time for 2 of them. That is a little bit frustrating, but meh.
I'm trying to resolve these two different views. Basically, for the specific purpose of finishing a dozen ambitious personal projects, life is too short. I do the best I can by spending very little time doing paid work, and living like a monk to afford it. But the subjective feeling about the length of the journey - all its different chapters that seem like eons, each one like its own lifetime - my feeling is that it is TOO DAMN LONG.
- anothergoogler 9y ago> Now I'm 40, and time is going faster, but it's possible that life is only half over. Maybe it's only 1/3 over, or depending on medical advances, less than that!
- psyc 9y agoMaybe, although I smoked a pack a day and drank heavily for 15 years to try to head off being undermined by medical advances!