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..

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9xh56fI_HSg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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.

It's good to sit back and think about how lucky many of us are. Mom being diagnosed with cancer was the breaking point for me to realize life was too short to keep up in the direction I was heading. I hated the thought of getting up every day because I was in a bad work situation. I was in over my head with no guidance from my manager in a job that was going no where fast. I was already looking for a way out but I don't know how much longer I would have waited had mom not gotten sick. I quit last October and couldn't be happier. I work with people I love now, I'm enjoying what I do, even though some days are stressful, and I feel like I have a career here.

Getting rid of the stress at work has made me enjoy life. I have an amazing spouse(Tweeze) and two awesome little boys. Tons of stuff to do in our free time and plans for a very full life a head of us.


Life's too short to be growing ulcers for someone else.

For me it was the first smoke of the day with a hot cup of coffee in my hand. Damn that was good!

Fortunately I'm 15 years removed from that crap. Quitting is hard, and I failed quite a few times. You just have to keep after it.

Life is good for me. On the outside looking in, someone might think I have had a rough life with all my health issues and a bad car accident 3 years ago (17 broken bones), but it is true what they say about "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Other than some occasional stiffness, and having to watch my sodium intake, I live a normal healthy life, and still do more around my farm than most people my age do.

My daughter is 21 now, and lives 1/4 mile down the road in a 16x80 house trailer we set up on a full acre of land and has a new boyfriend that is a redneck also. She helps my wife with all the horses and loves to ride in our new horse barn/riding arena. My son is 16 and is driving his pickup truck to school every day, and is starting offense and defense for the high school football team as a sophmore....we enjoy the whole Friday night football scene.

Financially, my wonderful wife of 27 years and I have the house paid off, own all of our cars, and have no debt which really takes alot of stress away, and we look forward to retiring early in about 10 years with a large 401K and a pension to travel all 50 states in our camper and visit friends all over the country.

Living a good life is all about choices, you need to distance yourselves from negative people, drugs/tobbaco, and drama. Be an example for others, not a judgemental negative person who seems to hate everything......your choice !

I have a friend who asks, "how are you feeling", rather than "how are you doing". Always found that strange.

No complaints.

Thanks for the transition sentence ;)

That line pretty much sums up how I've learned to manage and control my happiness which has redefined my life in the last 10 years. I've made the decision on how I want to react to every situation. I was brought up in a very negative environment, where if you didn't do it "our way" you were stupid. Learning that's not how the world works, learning to compromise, and just learning to learn...turned the light on for me.

I've learned all of this through my gorgeous wife, she and her family have helped me understand and see the world differently. They've also redefined what family and love means.

As I've been posting, I'm currently running through a very difficult time with my mother and it will likely only get harder as it's more apparent by the hour that my dad doesn't care to take action and help. I will do my best but understand it's not all something I can take on myself, I will learn from this and find the positive at the end of the road.

Otherwise, at 29...my life is Amazing. I'm writing this from my home office, work for a company that challenges me everyday, we have a gorgeous house we were able to put 50% down on, we own all 3 of our cars, have abundant "savings" which is only going to grow bc time is on our side.

Last and most important, we are all very healthy, my wife is doing great in the 3rd trimester with Saucy Jr the 2nd, and Saucy Jr the original is a happy, fun loving and smart little man.

In short, I'm doin' alright ;)

Good wishes sent to your mom, Sid, and your whole family.

Fine. Cut my hand with a chainsaw, but hand surgeon did a fine job. Needs some training though...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1431609166.jpg

I'm so glad to hear you took control and turned things around. Congratulations!!

I spent the morning assisting a relative with his adult son, who is in a wheelchair with CP.

It takes a good half hour to load and unload the son from the transport van. Wanna run to the store for some milk? Nope, the dad can't drive due to a medical condition that prevents him from getting a license. He has to rely on others although he does hold down a job and cares for his son 90% of the time.

We stopped for lunch which can be a challenge for the able bodied. To see the amount of effort it takes to do such simple things really makes you think about your own problems.


We all have our "things" that drag us down(if you let them) but remember there is ALWAYS someone in a worse place in life.

My back and neck hurt very nearly continuously.
I tire quickly.
I live at the beach.
My daughter and grandkids are happy and healthy.

Kinda a toss-up...

Carter

After having Cancer 3 times and related heart failure twice (my heart is currently operating at 45% efficiency) and being in a bad car accident (drunk driver ran a stop sign into my 944) 3 years ago that shattered my pelvis in 10 places, lacerated my liver, broke my sternum, foot and 4 ribs. I probably have good reason to complain about the pain I have, and continue to endure, but I CHOOSE to look on the brighter side and TRY to keep a good attitude.

I hope I can survive to live in retirement for a decent amount of time and enjoy the grandkids playing in the yard.

Life IS a state of mind. And despite what some say, one CAN manage one's state of mind.

Want to be happy?????????? decide to be.

The guys who found and managed to hang on to a great woman???? Yeah, THAT is the best and luckiest thing that can happen to a man... PERIOD.

I wouldn't want it any other way. My wife and I will celebrate 30 years this November. Kids are grown and living in other states, and doing great. I retired 3+ years ago at 51 and now work security in a casino, not because I have to, but because I like being busy. We're not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but are very comfortable with our way of life.

Call me happy

im doing pretty good at present. almost made it to 75 years before some health problems came into my life. always very healthy and active but slowed a bit in the last three months. after two...yes two turp procedures in six weeks i am about back to normal...but on prostate medication for the remainder of my life! unfortunately, i am one of those who has an abnormally large prostate before advanced age brought on further enlargement. i actually was afraid that i might require a third procedure. so you younger guys pay attention to your urologist and consider medication if recommended! catherers are no fun even if for just a few weeks!