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Weird? Faced a lot of hardship? Take heart.
03-28-2013, 12:49 PM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,788
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Weird? Faced a lot of hardship? Take heart.
I was happy to read in Get a Life that people who are happily retired tend to share two qualities:
1. Having had a harder life than most, having faced a lot of adversity and overcome it, as opposed to people who've had an easier ride. Somehow this prepared them for the challenges of retirement.
2. Being an odd bird, an eccentric, someone who did not fit in with their contemporaries very well. A non-conformist, someone who marched to the beat of their own drummer, as opposed to their more popular peers. Somehow this also prepared them for a satisfying retirement.
That wasn't the whole list of things that bode well for retirees -- there were many more -- but I found it encouraging to hear about those two qualities in particular, since I share them yet sometimes think of them as negatives. It was good to hear that they are actually positive traits for retirement.
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03-28-2013, 03:00 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: the City of Subdued Excitement
Posts: 5,588
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ROTFLMAO!
I ain't there yet but I am definitely a #2.
And there are a lot of #2's here with me.
__________________
I have outlived most of the people I don't like and I am working on the rest.
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03-28-2013, 03:03 PM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2011
Location: South Eastern USA
Posts: 1,068
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+#2
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03-28-2013, 03:03 PM
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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A small dose of hardship and a large dose of weird for me!
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03-28-2013, 03:05 PM
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#5
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 178
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I'm both #1 and #2.
#2 is Probably why most of us want to get away from the cubicle as soon as we can.
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03-28-2013, 03:10 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Cavalier
Posts: 2,317
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Both #1 and #2
__________________
"Don't take life so serious, son. It ain't nohow permanent." Pogo Possum (Walt Kelly)
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03-28-2013, 03:12 PM
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#7
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,708
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I suspect #2 is indirectly a quality that brings us together here.
As for #1, that is harder to judge. I know many who faced real hardship yet feel their life has been one of good fortune, and others that have yet to face real challenges but carry a chip on their shoulder or feel sorry for themselves.
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03-28-2013, 03:17 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,298
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB
I suspect #2 is indirectly a quality that brings us together here.
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I don't know anything about them except the name, but I always wondered why anyone would want to join http://ioof.org/ - now I know?
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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03-28-2013, 03:19 PM
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#9
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Ohio Suburb and WV Farm
Posts: 519
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Yup!
Both #1 and #2, for DH and me.
__________________
"Everything becomes more itself." --C.S. Lewis
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03-28-2013, 03:25 PM
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#10
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Cavalier
Posts: 2,317
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
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I never joined but my Grandfather was a member and my Grandmother and Mother were in the Rebekahs.
__________________
"Don't take life so serious, son. It ain't nohow permanent." Pogo Possum (Walt Kelly)
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03-28-2013, 03:25 PM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Madeira Beach Fl
Posts: 1,403
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In a certain town there was a man in the I.O.O.F. that everyone in town always called ODD.
He really got so tired of it that one of his last wishes was that his tombstone be blank except for date of birth and death. He thought this would be the end of people calling him ODD. Of course, every time someone would say "hey that stone has no name on it" the other person would reply "that's ODD".
__________________
_______________________________________________
"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do" --Bob Dylan.
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03-28-2013, 03:26 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,021
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nodak
Both #1 and #2
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Don't you people ever tire of toilet humor?
__________________
Numbers is hard
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03-28-2013, 03:40 PM
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#13
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 202
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I am definitely a #2.
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03-28-2013, 03:57 PM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 1,894
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gsparks2
+#2
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I think we were all 2+
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03-28-2013, 05:13 PM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,934
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Brief but life-changing hardship.
Thoreau disciple, definitely.
__________________
And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know.
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03-28-2013, 05:35 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,929
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ER Eddie
I was happy to read in Get a Life that people who are happily retired tend to share two qualities:
1. Having had a harder life than most, having faced a lot of adversity and overcome it, as opposed to people who've had an easier ride. Somehow this prepared them for the challenges of retirement.
2. Being an odd bird, an eccentric, someone who did not fit in with their contemporaries very well. A non-conformist, someone who marched to the beat of their own drummer, as opposed to their more popular peers. Somehow this also prepared them for a satisfying retirement.
That wasn't the whole list of things that bode well for retirees -- there were many more -- but I found it encouraging to hear about those two qualities in particular, since I share them yet sometimes think of them as negatives. It was good to hear that they are actually positive traits for retirement.
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Thank you for posting this. Definitely #2 here, all the way.
After the week I've had at work, I am delighted to hear that my oddities will FINALLY pay off in a happy retirement.
__________________
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus
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03-28-2013, 06:24 PM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
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#2 and proud of it!
Now get off my lawn!
I don't have a lawn......
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03-28-2013, 06:35 PM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,657
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Any minor setbacks I've faced have been much less than hardship. But I don't always fit well with my contemporaries. Does that mean I am almost cut out for early retirement, or I will only get there almost early?
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03-28-2013, 06:44 PM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,788
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calico
Thank you for posting this. Definitely #2 here, all the way.
After the week I've had at work, I am delighted to hear that my oddities will FINALLY pay off in a happy retirement.
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You're welcome. Here's the full text.
" 1. Honor Your Eccentricity. Throughout most of our lives, many if not most of us strive mightily to fit in. Whether we are in the fifth grade, in high school, on the basketball team at college or at work, the great majority of us want to be accepted by the people around us. But perhaps somewhat surprisingly, many of the most successful retirees I interviewed claimed to have failed miserably at doing this, referring to themselves as 'wacky,' 'weird,' or a 'lifelong misfit.' Indeed, having so many energized seniors tell me how socially inept they had been as younger adults caused me to wonder if the very fact that these people had to come to terms with being 'odd' earlier in life helped give them the strength to do well later.
'At first it surprised me when so many life-loving retirees cheerfully described themselves as 'odd,' 'a little nuts,' or even 'a true deviant,' but when this theme kept cropping up, I took it more seriously. Eventually, I even began asking my interviewees if they believed that odd or eccentric retired people do better than their more conformist peers. The majority answered with a resounding 'yes.' One friend explained it like this: 'I am the first to admit that I have always been a little odd. You can't help but observe how you fit -- or in my case, often don't fit -- into the world. The result is that I gained a sense of humility, or reduced expectations about life that many conventionally popular people never achieve. Thus I was better adapted to being old in America, a country where everyone over 60 is considered weird.'
2. Develop and Respect Toughness. A common demoninator of many of the retirees I identified as living particularly well was a belief that in their earlier years they had lived harder lives than many of their contemporaries. They believe that having had to cope with tough problems as children or young adults left them better equipped to deal with old age -- a time when living a fulfilling life commonsly requires putting all sorts of survival skills to work. A common attitude seemed to be, 'Yes, getting old is rough. I look like a prune, my physical problems have increased, and I am often lonely. So what? I learned years ago that life can be hard and that each day I have a choice -- I can give up or I can confront my obstacles and either overcome them or learn to live with them the best I can.' " ( Get a Life, pp. 147-148).
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03-28-2013, 06:47 PM
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#20
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,708
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