Published on 12, July, 2020
I've borrowed this question from something intimated in another thread.
Do you think life has improved for you as you have grown older?
Is it because society has changed or you/your life have changed or a combination?
There was a comparison in another thread with 1980.
I realise some of the readers here won't even have been born then!
I could write a long list of ways in which my life has improved since 1980, both on a personal level and on a 'society' level.
Where 'society' is concerned, the invention of the internet has made me much less isolated, much more knowledgeable, much more in control of my health and not at the mercy of the NHS.
I wouldn't know about my autism and many other things without it.
Also, mobile phones/texting and email mean that I no longer have to make phone calls (including from phone boxes!).
I could go on but I might even bore myself.
There is really very little I miss about 1980, except perhaps a quieter pace of life in general.
It's an interesting question and we all have a past, no matter how far back it goes.
How is it for you.
Better or worse?
I was definitely happier in the 80’s. Ignoring the struggles I had that I now know were due to autism, I was young and didn’t really have an understanding of the world. Adulthood is s&*%. It’s gotten progressively worse for me as the years have gone on and I’m tired. I don’t enjoy life at all, I find it too busy and demanding, people seem a lot more selfish and uncaring. Yes the internet is great and I spend a great deal of time on it, learning, reading, understanding questions I have throughout the day. But I’m not sure it has changed anything for the better, or people and society at least.
Zoe, I could not be more in agreement with your text.
But I rather abruptly found some contentment and happiness anyway, recently.
I'm also very tired, but I found a mindset that allows me to enjoy the good things and try to DO SOMETHING about the bad things and I like it more than feeling like a depressed loser, my previous mindset, so I'm keeping hold of it! (and trying to share it too)
I’m happy you’re in a good frame of mind at the moment I Sperg. I feel it’s a constant battle for m3 and my family to hold on to the more positive frame of mind you describe. More often than not we don’t manage it - but we don’t give up on trying to not be overwhelmed by the stresses we find keep coming our way. It’s certainly not easy! (Understatement!). We seem to have had a very difficult three years (like a lot of people of course). We thought : “Yay! It’s a new year! Fresh start!” And just in January we’ve been hit by so much difficult new stuff that we didn’t see coming. We keep on trying our best though. Like you though the overwhelming feeling is so often feeling so very, very tired. Sending best wishes and solidarity to you
In the run up to last Christmas I was starting to feel miserable and depressed, and I decided to list the things that were pissing me off, and it turned out there were 21 things that were nagging away in the background at my happiness. UP 7 from the previous year!!
Suddenly my onset of depression was revealed to be the result of a cumulative pressure in that direction.
BUT NOW I HAD A LIST...
Some things like my own terminal disorganisation (I've already lost the fecking list!!) will take time and organisation and help to overcome , but some things looked to yield much easier with a bit of effort.
And thanks to that list (or currently my memory of it!) I know where to put my efforts into actually making myself (and by extension the people around me) happier.
It works really well, I'm still quite happy and free of depression four months later. * months is my personal record, so it'll be a while yet until I am certain that I hit on a "magic bullet", but the signs are very good so far.