How are you doing?
 

Common question asked and almost no one really wants the honest long answer.

I just returned from a trip to the ICU to visit a friend. A man I ate lunch with not long ago looked fine and when asked "how ya doing" he said "fine."

All of a sudden he looks like a very frail old man. A breathing tube down his throat means no conversation. All I can do is tell him we are all thinking about him and wish him well. He is in the hands of several good doctors.

It got me to thinking about my life. Right now is the good ol days. I am healthy. I am married to a wonderful lady for 23 years now. I own a very nice house that is paid for. I have three cars I love and zero debt. My wife will retire in a few months with no health issues.

I have a great job and actually like to come to work and always come in about 30 minutes early. It is interesting and ever evolving and new yet the same old same old. It keeps my mind active and learning and the stress is low.

The house is a dream house for me. A 3 car garage with oversize bays and a workspace next to the main bay. Heated and air conditioned with a bathroom, refrigerator and TV. It will never be in magazines like Jack Olsen's garage but it is BIGGER and it has a scissor lift in a recessed pit as well.

My only complaint is I need to loose some weight like most Americans but I know 100% who to blame for me being too fat. It is not some evil corporation or Obama's or Bush's fault.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1431544930.jpg

I don't regret getting older. I have indeed become wiser. I remember the days of youth and thinking I was smart. I have learned so much since then.

I remember once a wise man told me something like: Right now you are where you want to be. You have made decision every day of your life that has brought you to where you are right now. If you don't like where you are now, make different and better decisions and find that better place.

I guess I did OK because I am happy where I am. I go to sleep at night with a smile on my face.

So, how ya doing?

I laugh every day. I get paid to do what I love. Got me an awesome chick and friends I can count on.

Things are pretty good.

Sorry about your friend, Glen.


To your question> I have good days and bad thinking about whether walking away from my job was the right thing to do. At 48, I seriously have questioned many of my decisions over the years.

Luckily, I too have a fantastic wife and we work as a team for the family. My health is good(could drop a few pounds like most).

My kids are doing great in school and I like being the parent-at-home for the opportunities I can take advantage of during the day.

Now, if the money tree would just start blossoming again.....

My situation is like yours but retired, so I'm doing OK. I do miss the regimen and problem solving challenges of work from time to time, but have more on my plate than I need so can't complain. I did realize some years ago you still have to make as good of decisions as you are capable to pave the way for the future. I can tell you it's strange to get up into the age you realize you may have ten years left on the average. I tell myself I should be especially happy compared to lots I see around me even in younger age brackets. Monday the wife & I took a ten mile round trip hike with an elevation gain/loss of 2,375 ft. Today I got an email from my younger sister (by 4 yrs.) complaining her arthritis makes her take 1 1/2 hrs. to vacuum one floor of her house.

Good stuff, Glen.

Thanks for the reminder to step back and breathe.

(Baz, I laughed out loud at the dog!)

Sorry about your friend Glen.

I have zero complaints. Back on track after being laid off last year and am ultimately much happier than I was at the old place, so it was a blessing. Great wife, great kids, great friends, and great health all around. I don't fear aging because life just keeps getting better!

Yep, take time to smell the roses.

I'm not doing great guys.

Can't find the willpower to get off the smokes. My chick took off. I'm not healthy.

Don't know why I'm posting this but I'm glad you guys are doing good.

I just try to remember to tell myself to remember today as the good times.

Like Glen I have no debit. Own 38 acres, nice house, big garage a car, pick-up, 1ton truck, and a Porsche. Life is good. Don't have the kind of money most people here have but it doesn't take much to make me happy.
Retired after 36 years of being an over the road owner operator trucker 2 years ago.
Was just, 2 weeks ago at age 61, hired as road foreman for the town I've lived in for the last 40 years. Never been a boss before so that's a little weird but ........yeah i'm doing fine. Thanks for asking.

Except for the young woman bolting, the other two issues are within your span of control.

Willpower is like a muscle, you have to exercise it. Keep trying.

Every ex smoker (I am one) has a crutch they used to quit. I found that nice round tooth picks were a great substitute for smokes when I was driving. For some odd reason, driving and smoking was the best f'ing thing. I went through a lot of boxes until I stopped completely, smoking and the tooth picks.

Get a plan, work the plan, adjust, keep trying. Willpower is a schedule you keep.

That and walk every day. No gym, no weights, just walk. Twenty minutes to start and get to 45.

Good luck, Dude.

Glen, thanks for posting this thread.

Tobacco is tough. Heroin is easier to quit, or so I am told. Maybe get a dog to walk with every day so you will stick with it. If the dog is looking at you, expecting to go for a walk, you will do it. Crazy thing, you are more likely to let yourself down and not go than your pet dog. Hypnosis, accupuncture, toothpicks, gum, lots of stuff you can try for it. What works is different for everyone. Oh, and don't buy crappy food, stay away from soda pop and fast food, that scheisse is poison.

I have been blessed with excellent health, a great family that is in close proximity and a rewarding career that I enjoy. There is not a lot I would want to change if I could. Maybe be a little taller, but then none of my pants would fit right anymore, so maybe not. I am sort of like Lou Gehrig, luckiest man on the face of the Earth. Well, like him without the fatal neuromuscular disease thing.

"Life is Good." Retired 3yrs. ago age 58 after 38yrs. on the job, pension plus/ I have always been a net safer and investor.
Terrific wife she is a few yrs. younger, she's not ready to retire,loves her job.
Of course there are some challenges with the kids, career issues.
But everyone is healthy and that in my book is the number one wealth.
All the best to you, hope your friend pulls through.

Not doing well either, remodeling the house, fighting with wifey, okay job but burnt out and seven years to retirement (staying for the pension), trying to pay off our debt.

Sorry for the downer post but you asked.

Well I do have the constant problem of young nubile beautiful women trying to seduce me. It is likely the fact they think I am George Clooney. No wait, maybe that was a movie I saw or that dream.....

Like I tell everyone "If you have your health, you have everything". Or as Sheryl Crow sang "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got".

Been there before. The best advice I can offer is to surround yourself with as many good people as you can, be honest to them and yourself. Do what it takes to get healthy mentally first.

Try to focus on one positive thing a day. Then build upon it. Do something creative or artistic. Funk music and The Three Stooges are a good pick me up.

This helps too..

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Good lord that's true.

Thanks for asking. And thanks for the thread. I am a blessed human being. At age 65 I've had lots of interesting jobs - retail clerk in a hardware store, appliance repairman, welder, race car mechanic, line mechanic, automotive engineer (GM), rocket scientist (Air Force), taught college classes on material science, and since I went entrepreneurial at age 38 I've done pretty much anything I wanted. I'm reasonably healthy - ran marathons in my 50s and dodged middle age spread but the old age spread is harder to fight off. I have a great family, terrific wife, two good dogs, and when I can't sleep I count my blessings and calm right down.