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The Perfect Life
- Thread starter MACDRIVE
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I agree.
Too many people want millions in the bank. Do you honestly need that much? I'd settle for less than 100k to pay off my student loans (present + future) and I'd be fine.
The amounts some of you want mean that you wouldn't have to work, etc. Yes, you could travel the world, do charity, blah blah. But I think you'd eventually get bored. You just need a job you absolutely love and that somehow doesn't suck up every waking minute such that you can't spend time with your kids.
I agree with devilot too. Obviously the perfect life is different for all of us. But something tells me that it's about the path to reaching it, attaining it. If I wanted that much money, somehow worked my butt off and attained it, I could live with it. But I'd hate to have it just appear in my bank account one day. It's why I don't pay the lottery ever.
Anyway, my perfect life is just living in Europe, preferably a nice city like Paris, where I can spend afternoons napping in the garden of luxembourg. I'd also take a spouse and kids along with it over lots of money.
Where you are? Probably today. LOL. Where I am, not for another month maybe
as it happens - it is raining
As nice as it would be, I think people need to be free to reach that point for themselves - peace would be lasting peace if people were satisfied with living their lives in peace. I think that if I had what I asked for, the world could crumble around me, but I would still be happy.
This is true but the responsibilities and time sink tend to increase with your longevity at any job. And many of us like to try new things. Enough money in the bank so that you don't have to work does not mean that I wouldn't work. I'd just be free to try new things when I wanted to, take extended family vacations, and do what I wanted for work rather than being at the mercy of my employer for vacation, insurance, and income. I'm not asking for so much that I can have everything and sacrifice nothing. I just want enough that we could maintain slightly better than our current standard of living off the interest alone and supplement it with income from jobs when we wanted to.
There is a huge difference between working because you want to and working because you have to.
My life is darn close to perfect now, beautiful wife and daughters, but the financial freedom to have a complete choice of job and how much time it takes would definitely enhance my enjoyment of my life. I'd probably even work the same job I'm at, albeit for less time, but it's fun challenging work but with our young kids I'd almost always rather be home to watch them grow up...
Edit: After re-reading this, I guess what it all really comes down to is stress. Most of the stress in mine, and my wife's life is due to finances. If neither of us had to work, we'd probably both still hold jobs, but the stress of paying for the house/cars/insurance/food/luxuries, would be much lower which would yield a more peaceful existence... We could probably go far if we could just find an exact match in the house we're looking for and have it paid off. Right there is a huge financial burden removed and a lot of stress gone.
As long as humans have emotions, world peace will never happen.
hell, nature doesn't even allow animals to live in "peace". I realize we are a more complex organism than toads and flies, but the thing which made us superior, namely emotions, will keep us at odds with each other. always.
EDIT : but you are correct, nobody has even considered it
actually "but the thing which made us superior, namely emotions"
yeah, jealousy, anger, depression, hate, greed...
I'm feeling right up there on the evolutionary food chain. BTW anyone who spends any time around 'animals' might want to remind you that they do display a wide range of emotions.
yeah, jealousy, anger, depression, hate, greed...
I'm feeling right up there on the evolutionary food chain. BTW anyone who spends any time around 'animals' might want to remind you that they do display a wide range of emotions.
As long as humans have emotions, world peace will never happen.
hell, nature doesn't even allow animals to live in "peace". I realize we are a more complex organism than toads and flies, but the thing which made us superior, namely emotions, will keep us at odds with each other. always.
EDIT : but you are correct, nobody has even considered it
World peace is about as likely as several other posters visions of the perfect life...
Like devilot said, learning to be content would help a lot. I have the feeling that if I were able to have the things that I'm about to list, the "perfect life" bar would just move a little further out and I'd once again be unhappy.
But right now? Three things come to mind. I wish that my wife and I didn't have to worry about a recurrence, even though she's been cancer free for a long time now. I wish that our social worker would call us up and tell us that we've been matched, and that it's time to come meet our new child. And I wish that my health was good enough that I could be self-employed, and work on the kinds of things that I really want to work on, instead of having to work for an employer with a good group health insurance plan.
Yeah, that would do it for now.
But right now? Three things come to mind. I wish that my wife and I didn't have to worry about a recurrence, even though she's been cancer free for a long time now. I wish that our social worker would call us up and tell us that we've been matched, and that it's time to come meet our new child. And I wish that my health was good enough that I could be self-employed, and work on the kinds of things that I really want to work on, instead of having to work for an employer with a good group health insurance plan.
Yeah, that would do it for now.
Good luck with the upcoming adoption, whenever that might be. Are you looking for an infant or an older child? My wife and I have been foster parents for about a year now (though we are not looking to adopt at this time) and it is great to see so many people willing to take these children in need into their families.
Oh, don't worry. You won't be able to stop me from posting about that when it happens.
I'd like $500k USD.
That would pay off my house.. get me out of debt entirely.
I realize people are down on folks dreaming of money; but I think it'd allow me to quit my life-consuming day job. This would facilitate a shift of my focus onto something related to my own life, rather than making some anonymous corporation wealthy in return for barely enough income to keep a roof over my head.
That would pay off my house.. get me out of debt entirely.
I realize people are down on folks dreaming of money; but I think it'd allow me to quit my life-consuming day job. This would facilitate a shift of my focus onto something related to my own life, rather than making some anonymous corporation wealthy in return for barely enough income to keep a roof over my head.
I agree with you. My post was directed that those who wanted millions. Eyeballing it the average came up to $10m+ and many wanted around $20m, which I think is far from the range you and I are referring to.
I think people always want more than their own current standard of living, which just goes back to devilot's comment about being content. That's why people have outrageous fantasy numbers of millions in their head.
I don't understand why anyone would ever want a life consuming job. If I had such a job, I'd ask for a new job, not $$. Obviously, you can't just quit and go do something else. But I'd definitely be exploring exit strategies.
Thanks, that was sort of my point. It's so easy for me (at least, and perhaps others) to be seduced with the thought that that nice house, w/ nice furniture, nice appliances, nice car, nice clothes, delish foods, etc... and loved ones in your life will equate happiness.
The problem is, material goods obviously come and go. Deteriorate. As do living beings. We deteriorate. We also pass away. If I could learn to be content, then yes, I'd never be the same after losing a loved one, but I could learn to move on. I could learn to see the good a different day.
And that, to me, would be a more perfect life.
That question crossed my mind, too.
Me? My life is OK as it is. Woman, health, food, house, kids, peace.
at least someone here is happy. good for you