Life is a b**** and then you die, what a powerful statement but a pitiful line when you think about it.
There are lots of things I might have done differently, but I can't say I reflect on them too much. Though after reading your post maybe when I turn 40 I will be as retrospective.
I just enjoy things more now and try not to look back. When I started my trucking company, i was in grind mode, but now, its easy like sunday morning as the commodores would sing. I don't have a bucket list, but there are alot of things i want to do pretty soon. Going to south africa, rv the wife and kids to disney world, take the amtrak to cali, stuff like that. I've been everywhere in the the country via the 18 wheeler, but there are some destinations the family haven't been to before.
Life is pretty simple. When you're young you b**** about how you can't do anything until you're older. When you're old you b**** about how you can't anything you could when you were younger. So basically yeah. A lot of b****ing going on, and then at some point you die and don't have to worry about it anymore. At least you maybe had some nice grapes along the way, or loved a woman, or really took a fancy to snowboarding.
When life is always getin me lonely I was always listen to Creed as my rock. My inspriation. My man! Scott Stapp, blowin up on the haters! Scott Stapp is back y'all!!! <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J16lInLZRms?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J16lInLZRms?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
That remind me of a Fred Durst quote I know that is near and deer to my heart <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2KWErz2Wg4s?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2KWErz2Wg4s?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
I think you have done almost everything right, but you should reconsider your attitude towards our future president, Spoiler Shane Battier .
Wow...I'll bite, here's my contribution to this "deep" thread: I wish I had kept my stupidity and temper in check early on. My Mom had me at 15 or 16 and maybe she was scared I'd be on my own at some early point b/c of her youth and stupidity...but from a very young age, she always taught me: if somebody crosses you, you come back and give it to them at least 10-fold in return. If somebody hurts you (even just a little bit), you make sure you hurt them back really, REALLY badly. There are no rules of engagement. If somebody kicks you, get a knife and do everything in your power to come back and cut their f...king leg off. My bio-dad used to beat us both (daily) and this might have reinforced my violent nature as a youth. I've spent almost two years of my 31 years of life on this planet in various jail cells around the country (I was lucky, it easily could have been decades). I used to honestly believe that 30-40 would be a great feat...if I made it that long: success! After years of dealing drugs, stealing, hurting people...I met my wife (while she was in college)...my polar opposite. Then we had kids. My fist son died in my arms before he turned 1 year old in July of 2007 and that's when things really changed for me. I think about my little Hunter Lee EVERY single day. I cry EVERY single day. Nothing can change what I went through with that little boy...but he changed how I think about everything. I now understand that life is beautiful. Life means more than my stupid human brain could ever understand. I'm nowhere near the person I wish I could be, but I live every day of my life doing EVERYTHING I possibly can to make life for my two sons now better than it was the day before. They're only 9mos and 2yrs old...but every day of life is precious. I'm not a religious person (if God exists, I hate him and don't really care if I burn in Hell), but I want my boys to live well and be happy. My candor might come off as...I don't know...something else. My wife tells me I say way too much to people and that I wear my heart on my sleeve to a terrible fault. Perhaps. I don't know what I'm really trying to get at that everybody here doesn't know already...just live your life. Love who you love...and understand, please, that this life IS in fact precious. Our time here is not something to be wasted. If you have something you wish you could change, just f...king change it. If you have a family member you wish you could talk to again, please, pick up the damn phone or better yet, go see them. Reach out while you can.
I regret nothing, because every decision I made ultimately led to me to wife of 30+ years, my two kids, my 2 grandkids and a third on the way. Any 'life altering' change I would have made could have steered things in a different direction.
RP, that was deep and great food for thought. They say parents aren't suppose to bury their kids, so I can't imagine what that would be like. I just had my 4th and final child christened today and can't imagine what it would be like to put her in the ground. My godfather was 62 and healthy as a horse, then 6 months ago after not being able o shake a cold, had test run on him. They diagnosed him with leukemia and you know how that go. He passed after 6 months of a fight and he told me something before he passed. He was about to retire from ibm after 30 yrs and he always said he was going to show my son how to play golf next year.Well, he didn't make it to next year and said anything you can do today, do it. Tommorrow isn't promised and should treat it as such.
The problem i have with the idea that you should live every day like it's your last is that you can possibly end up engaging in risky behavior. Even something as innocent as enjoying whatvr food you want can cost you years of your life later due to heart disease. You're so worried about doing everything that you live life too fast, don't stop and think about consequences and the chances of hurting yourself increase. Someone else could be so busy that they don't get enough sleep and drive off the road one night. Things like that. You're living fast to beat death and you end up killing yourself faster. I think you need to stay somewhere in the middle...don't go 10 mph, but also not 90.
I'm with RV6 and I approach life now "in moderation". I have freedom because I'm not married and I don't have kids. I have no major payments. I pretty much ... goof off. I sometimes want to just quit my job and just travel around the US meeting new people in different areas. It's funny that leebigez mentioned riding Amtrak on a train trip is something he's wanted to do because I'm the same way. I think a train ride cross-country or even across a state or two would be neat. I've been wanting to do exactly that for a few years. In the meantime I thought I'd do something a bit quicker, but similar : I just got back from going up to Arkansas and taking a short excursion ride on a train through the Boston Mountains and although it wasn't anything special, it was a blast to meet people on the train 20-30 years older than me and listen to them talking and to talk to them. It was great to see the historian, conductor, etc on the train laughing and telling everyone the history of the track and people actually loving their work. Is it something that can compare with other things I want to do like visit Egypt, go to Jerusalem, etc.? Definitely not, but it's something I haven't done, and it's something that I probably won't die doing, so I did it. It was fun to just get away from the usual tourist traps and definitely good to get away from the usual concrete jungle where most people have about as much connection to their city and work as a fish does to a freeway. I'll probably be heading up there in a few weeks again when the maples and other trees have changed colors - the view should be pretty sweet.
Rafer didn't get into the NBA because of college, he got into it because he was a god in street ball. He is one of the best dribblers you will ever see.
Though I'm still relatively young, I've few regrets in life. Namely, not going to more study abroad opportunities, visiting various relatives while they were still alive, wasting too much time and money on alcohol and with the kind of people whose social lives revolve around it (i.e. people who go bar-hopping, clubbing etc.), and not spending enough time with people outside that circle, or not saying no as often to social invitations so as to focus on school, and so on. That being said, I'm eternally grateful for having parents that never divorced or fought like the majority of my friends' folks. Parents who loved my siblings and I unconditionally, and who made damn sure I would have a well-rounded education and never lack for anything like a car, or having to worry about getting a job for reasons other than networking and building a résumé. Knowing you have a fallback in life where the people will always have your back no questions asked is the greatest foundation for confidence I can imagine.
Evereything should be done in moderation. I had my daughter my sophmore year in college, so i never got into the risky life stuff. Almost drowned on a jet ski and i can swim lke a fish and almost got knocked off the road coming from the casino on icy road. Other than that, my risks have been to a minimum since i was 20. Now that i have a wife,3 kids and financially set, iwant to really enjoy things. I'm a huge rockets guy and nba in general, but going to games isn't living it up to me. I've gone to alot of games through the years and I pick and choose more now, but the excitement of the kids or the wife does more for me now than my enjoyment of games.
I have one month, or so, until I am 40. My wife and I had our first child this year and that has been a true life changer. I am keenly aware that I have to cherish every moment with my family and friends because it all goes so quickly.
