I love this sentiment. In my mid 40s I went through a period of “it’s all downhill from here” but I took steps to change my life for the better and I’m living the dream now.
Time is going to win eventually but I’m going to fight it every step of the way and will make damn sure I enjoy the battle.
I feel like life gets better and better and I’m 40, so…
Outside of tragedies beyond your control, like illness and so on, it’s also a matter of trying to have a fun and good life every day.
Oh my sweet summer child.
Wait till you wakeup one day and can barely walk, for no apparent reason.
Or you have an injury that doesn’t want to heal, and docs are scratching their heads, but won’t give you pain meds, or even steroids that you’ve seen help this issue in the past.
Or you get fired for nothing you’ve done.
Or the business you work for goes belly up.
Or a crazy person in your life threatens to kill you, so you have to be alert all the time.
Or you’re in so much pain, constantly, that you can’t even think.
Life is hard. Shit happens.
I think you missed the point of the post.
Do you think I don’t know that life can be hard? I’ve had bad things happen to me for no reason. I know what crippling depression feels like.
I’m also committed to finding joy and beauty in life, because it’s always there, if you know where and how to look.
I wish you luck in that. Because it does get harder and harder. It takes discipline to keep finding it, just like anything important.
Yeah OP reads as someone who has a silver spoon in their mouth.
There is soooo much shit that is out of peoples control.
It doesn’t matter if you want to “manifest” happiness if you literally cant afford to eat.
Oh i get what OP is saying. Just drink the Kool aid and bury your head in the sand pretending the bad shit isn’t real and can’t hurt you right up to the point it devours you.
Did you have an adult in your life constantly telling you how lucky you are and it will only get worse when you were a teen? That shit robs you of your joy then and later; that mentality sets you up for failure. That’s what OPs post is describing. And if you think that people who are disabled or can’t make ends meet can’t have joy in their lives then you’re reinforcing the narrative that you must have certain things in order to “win at life”. Even if there is an element of truth to the sentiment there’s no reason to blow out of proportion that life is one endless stream of misery once you’re X many years older
No I was told it would get better.
Instead im a corporate wage slave who works 10+ hours a day to still not be to even pay all my bills on time.
Don’t have time or money to go back to school to take a gamble on something else actually paying fairly and even if it did the company you work for is still gonna be a dystopian piece of shit.
All the money that goes into my retirement will not amount to enough to retire so I (along with billions of others) will work until the day we die.
Been thru most of these. Lived with chronic pain. Wife and I lost our jobs this year within a few months of each other. Had someone credibly threaten to sue me for more than I could afford. Dealt with depression & suicidality. Worked from home with a gun on my desk because the cops wouldn’t do anything about my batshit insane neighbor.
The list of problems I have proven to myself I can survive grows longer every day. I have the contact info for a good psychiatrist, lawyer, and physical therapist. I know who my support network is, and exactly how far I can stretch a dollar. Yes, bad things happen now that are worse than when I was younger. But I am stronger and more in control of my life. Problems that would have broken me down when I was just starting out are things I can now handle without so much as elevating my heart rate.
And, there are new joys that have only become accessible to me through the benefit of experience! Fears I have conquered, hangups I have gotten over, people I have warmed up to.
Getting older doesn’t just suck. I think it just seems that way because people (on the internet at least) find it really easy and relatable to complain.
Life frequently gets better after high school. You get to make your own decisions, be who you want, be with who you want, and live where you want.
In my experience, the people who told me high school was the best time had very boring adult lives.
I imagine the people who said this probably did have a fantastic time in high school. Probably to the point they ended up socially aimless afterward.
Perhaps I’m just over imagining, but I picture them reminiscing about scoring two touchdowns in a single high school game. The kind of people who post about high school memories on Facebook.
