Life is hard. There’s a lot to go through in this life, especially if one lives a long life. Overall, our lives may be very good upon reflection, or our lives may be rather miserable as we look at ourselves and what we’ve experienced. Even a very good life has had its rough spots and perhaps very dark periods. So, how was/is your life? I guess that all depends upon several factors. How do we frame things in our lives? Do we just get up every day and take things as they come? Do we have some kind of a belief system we rely on to keep us going? A religion or a philosophy we have developed over the years? Do we have a belief system that serves us when we are young and through later life experiences, we challenge that belief system and perhaps abandon it when everything seems to turn bad. How do we handle the losses we experience? Do they destroy us, turn us into very angry, negative people?
I’ve lived through a lot. Yes, all the things we have to go through. Good times, fun times, joyous times as well as sad times, tragic times, confused times. So, how do I feel about my life at this age, having lived through a lot? Having done a lot of the things I wanted to do, having to suffer through the horrible things we have to endure if we live a long time. The loss of friends and loved ones. Some of us have it easier than others. Some of us have horrendous experiences. Some find a way to get through it all and others do not handle it so well and some give up completely and end their lives tragically.
I find that the hardest thing to handle is the transitoriness of life. Don’t you? Or is it just me? (Maybe I think too much). Everything comes and goes. Life, friends, loved ones, everything. You never know what is just around the corner, what the next second will bring. Tomorrow your whole life could turn upside down, boom. Yeah, we all play the psychological games to deny this, we have to in order to have a good life. How do we hold it all together to avoid being a psychological mess? Depression is not good.
We, my spouse and I, have talked about this from time to time. We have experienced a lot of change in our lives. We used to have a lot of dinner parties and activities with friends and loved ones, but times change, and many of our friends are gone (i.e. dead, see we even avoid the bad words to make it sound better). We traveled a lot and now are slowing down. We used to go out to all hours of the night doing activities, like dancing, etc. and now staying up past nine-thirty is a struggle.
I reflect back on earlier days with nostalgia. Lots of fun times, for sure. Not that current times cannot be or are fun times, I’m not saying that. It’s just different. So much is different. All the activities like decorating the house for Christmas (and we really went all out on that) and those sorts of things are in the past. Yeah, it’s different. I would hop on a plane and go somewhere on a whim. I’d go to Europe every couple of months in my early years in my airline career. Seeing the world, enjoying it all, never thinking about the days when all that activity would slow down. But life happens and the pace does change, I’ve discovered.
The good childhood memories make me smile and at times make me wish I could return for some of those experiences. I guess that’s nostalgia. Makes me happy and sad. Wish I knew then what I know now. I could have enjoyed it so much more than I did. I could have related to others better. Oh, well, we had our day, and we lived it our way. Just memories now.
But, really thinking this over, I’ve come to the conclusion that my life has been perfect. Yes, I said “perfect!” Yes, despite all the bad and the sad and the good, I see my life as perfect. I’ve had the perfect life. I have done all I wanted to do. I realized my dreams. I survived; I thrived. Yes, my dreams were accomplished. I eventually found true love after stumbling through less-than-ideal relationships. So here I am. No regrets. Everything has worked out. Happy with life even though I see a lot of bad and evil in life and in history, which I have studied a lot.
A good friend of fifty-two years just died recently. I’ve been reflecting on his life, and I see his life as very similar to mine. He did all the things he wanted to do. He really had a good life. As sad as I am on his passing, I have a good feeling knowing that he really enjoyed all that he did. We started working together in 1973 at an airline and we both had good careers in the airline industry. Yes, it’s a good feeling living the life that was meant for us. We did it.
So, what now? I am in a new place. I’m in “part two” of my life as I see it now. I have some new things to do, some new experiences. My writing and sharing has been a new adventure these past few years. I have been more studious in my continuing education of subjects of interest to me. It’s all been good and fun. I don’t understand those who get bored in the later years of life. So, as I see it, the “perfect” life continues. Let’s go for it! The good life continues.
Wally