Do you enjoy life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk if I find my life to be meaningful, but I really enjoy it! I love my toddlers and my dh and enjoy being around them. My parents moved closer and I love shopping and cooking with my mom. The only way my life could get more enjoyable is if I got a dog, but I'm pregnant and don't think I could handle it. But all the time I wish I had a dog to snuggle.

In a few years your kids will squirm away from your arms. I suggest you kiss, hug, cuddle and snuggle them as much as you can while they are young and cannot escape you. My DS is a teen now and we don't get too many hugs and kisses from him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God no. I don’t find it meaningful either.

Except for fleeting moments, I would say the same. But I would like that to be different, so if anyone has suggestions, please post them.

[Anonymous]

I do. It sucks at times and I had a really tough time during covid with no outlets, but overall I see life as an adventure. There will be ups and downs, none of it is permanent unless you're locked in a room somewhere, which we essentially were during covid! It's easy to go down a rabbit hole of wondering what it's all for, what's the point, etc, but I recognize going down the hole is a choice, so I choose to think positive and do things to make my life feel worth living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God no. I don’t find it meaningful either.

Except for fleeting moments, I would say the same. But I would like that to be different, so if anyone has suggestions, please post them.

Go for a walk, read good fiction, call to catch up with an old friend/family member, look at flowers, the sun, sit by a body of water, anything in nature (arboretum, botanic garden), take a yoga class, change your thoughts and mindset even as an exercise. It sounds corny but thoughts become things! Most important love yourself and know you bring value to the world just by being here. You don't have to DO anything to be valuable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God no. I don’t find it meaningful either.

Except for fleeting moments, I would say the same. But I would like that to be different, so if anyone has suggestions, please post them.

Go for a walk, read good fiction, call to catch up with an old friend/family member, look at flowers, the sun, sit by a body of water, anything in nature (arboretum, botanic garden), take a yoga class, change your thoughts and mindset even as an exercise. It sounds corny but thoughts become things! Most important love yourself and know you bring value to the world just by being here. You don't have to DO anything to be valuable.

+1
I find it hilarious when we have the SAHM vs WOHM fights on DCUM and people trip over themselves trying to prove that they are more hard working, more valuable, more miserable, more tired than anyone else. With all of that sacrifice they wonder why they don't feel fulfilled and happy? When they are given a chance to WFH during the pandemic they cannot imagine the hassle of feeding their children or being with their children. Everything that is enjoyable is a chore and a headache for them. This nation needs to be medicated out of its misery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really like my life. I live a very average and perhaps a small life but I am very happy.

I think it is due to several things -
- I have had a great childhood and my parents and siblings are loving and close knit. I am in touch with them over phone every day even though they live in another country.
- DH and I do not have emotional baggage from our childhood or romantic relationships. We are our first and only. There is no heartbreak or comparison.
- I have a wonderful husband who is my BFF. I love my kids as they are just amazing people. We are a very affectionate family and we hug and kiss a lot. We are very close to each other. My kids are good kids and compassionate human beings and I love that about them more than anything.
- I was able to raise my kids the way I wanted because I was home. In other words, no parenting regrets and only very tiny minor career regrets.
- We are a family of readers and so we are always learning new stuff. It keeps us growing and happy.
- We are very green. I know that climate change is happening and it is heartbreaking but we do our part to have our instant gratification. This means green energy, green mode of transportation, recycling, composting, creating habitat for wildlife in our yard and not consuming too much. -- We declutter a lot and that makes us happy. We like living in a somewhat minimalistic, clean and peaceful space.
- We live below our means and therefore we have financial cushion. We are not status conscious and are content living in a nice space in a cheaper neighborhood. We are in the position to help family members and also donate to charity and it makes us happy.
- We have hobbies that make us very happy.
- While I have had severe health setbacks, I am lucky that I have got right treatments in right time and it has prolonged my life.
- We have good friends and good neighbors and every day we meet and interact with people
- We are great cooks and can cook many cuisines. This means that good food is a way of life and for every meal our kitchen is humming. Someone is always making some tea or fixing some interesting snack for everyone.
- We are not on social media.
- We do not have addiction and substance abuse in our family. We all like to spend time with each other.
- We have many birds, pollinators, animals visit our yard and it is very entertaining to all of us. We provide them with food, water and shelter and they provide us with their presence.
- We volunteer our time and donate our money to worthy causes. It really gives us immense happiness to make a difference.
- We pray every day and that is my stressbuster.
- Some normal things of being healthy are paid lip service but people do not understand how important it is for happiness - good quality and enough sleep, a good digestion and elimination, proper hydration and proper nutrition, some exercise every day. I have a fitbit and I do try to get some walking in every day.

While there has been some recent great losses in our family due to COVID and there are many friends and family I may never see again, I am grateful for these people and this life. Of course, there is a lot of loss and sorrow too, but, life is a journey and things keep changing every minute and that is the fun of experiencing life. I have my usual fears and anxieties specifically regarding my kids, DH and family, but my remedy is to have contingencies, pray and exercise. The key is to not obsess and one can train oneself for that.

I love this list and might the points into a set of resolutions of sorts. I feel like I get half way on many but then get tossed and turned around in the churn and clutter of everyday life, with some splashes of familial ADHD thrown in, and everyone loses sight of the prize, or at least any sense of inner peace and purpose.

You should write a book PP, I have your title--"How to live a life both big and small"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the moment, no. It feels like purgatory. Stupid president, stupid Democrats, stupid woke SJW idiots, COVID, half my favorite places closed, I just go through the motions waiting to ride it out.

I hope you stay miserable forever, PP. People like you don’t deserve to be happy.

[Anonymous]

I have the opposite problem. I enjoy my day to day but struggle to find meaning and purpose in life. Unless that is the purpose of life, just to notice and enjoy small blessings? IDK.

For me, what I find enjoyable is noticing and savoring really small things. Like, the first cup of coffee in the morning. The bliss of ice cold water after my run on a steamy summer day. The deliciousness of a hot bath on a cold day. How good it feels to get into bed with freshly washed sheets. A pink and purple sunset, a ripe peach, a crisp apple, a cloudless bluebird day in early September. Yellow and orange leaves swirling on a warm fall day. A misty, foggy autumn morning in October. The beauty of new fallen snow or ice on bare trees. I find it delightful and almost magical to watch a butterfly alight on my butterfly bush or a goldfinch land at the bird feeder. Hummingbirds are my favorite. Bunnies hopping around in the backyard eating clover. It's all just really beautiful and wonderous if you let yourself notice and appreciate it.

Yesterday I took my daughter to the pool. I like to get wet then sit in the shade with a good book while she plays. It was just really, really nice and I felt that deep down in my bones. Like a long sigh out.

So I find a lot of pleasure and meaning in the day-to-day. But what is the purpose of life? That, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Yes I do. I don’t understand most of these people who say god no. I have many many tedious or neutral moments in a day and sometimes bad ones. But I have great kids, find the world interesting and there’s always something to learn. But we are financially okay and I have a roof over my head, so there’s definitely that.

[Anonymous]

Very much. I had a pretty bad childhood and my life is so much better than anything I ever thought adulthood would be like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I’m grateful every day. I learned from my parents. They loved life and it was infectious.

There were highs and lows, but family was there for each other through those lows.

I try to keep a positive outlook and no matter how bleak things get, I can always find something I’m thankful for.

+1

Same!

[Anonymous]

Since this was bumped…did anyone else read a post and think “that’s exactly like me” and then realize they were reading their own post?
I need to find something else to do with my life…this is DCUM Groundhog Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very much. I had a pretty bad childhood and my life is so much better than anything I ever thought adulthood would be like.

Same here. Every day is basically fabulous because my childhood through college was awful awful awful. I love being an adult, having freedom, having enough money to buy what I need to buy, having the ability to ignore or avoid people I don’t like. It’s all so great; I feel ridiculously lucky and grateful and my life is nothing special on the outside probably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the moment, no. It feels like purgatory. Stupid president, stupid Democrats, stupid woke SJW idiots, COVID, half my favorite places closed, I just go through the motions waiting to ride it out.

I hope you stay miserable forever, PP. People like you don’t deserve to be happy.

I feel so sorry for the top poster. Life doesn’t have to be this way but they are choosing misery.