Staying Happy

[24601NoMore]

Happiness = Health as you age.

I am close to 50. Everyone in my family in their 60s and 70s are unhealthy and miserable. They eat too much. Doctor appointments and pills take all the time.

Nothing is more important than health.

AMEN to that! There's nothing that will impact or limit your happiness more quickly than health issues.

I ran at things really hard during w*rk years even though I exercised regularly, and am now paying the price in my mid 50s. Things are starting to break or not work the way they used to. Making a concerted effort to focus on health and well-being going forward..even bought a new Spinning bike yesterday so that I could add some cross-training to my existing routine of elliptical-only cardio. The goal is to exercise every day now that I'm ER'd and pay a lot more attention to food, drink and just overall wellness going forward..

 

[NW-Bound]

They don't look that old to me! I think they've just had a tough life.

Yes, you could be right.

Perhaps their mistake was to ER a bit too soon.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am happy now in the early morning hours, compared to last night at 10PM. I revived my wife's PC once more. And yes, I broke it again.

Lots of BSD ("blue screen of death") last night, with Win10 issuing different error codes each time it crashed. I slept only 4 hours, and had to get up to solve it.

It's working now, when I already resigned to getting my wife another PC. Heck, I already surfed Amazon to look for deals at 11PM last night.

 

[Mdlerth]

Nobody endures as much as I do, but I'm not one to complain

heh heh heh - as a left handed INTJ, whining, bitching and moaning can be good clean fun. Not to mention adding credit toward toward your Curmudgeon Certificate. Once FI they can't fire you.

So?? Can grumpy Curmudgeonism be a left handed form of happiness?? As long as you don't take yourself too serious?

Agreed. Creative kvetching can be enormously entertaining. (Even the word "kvetching" is funny!) It doesn't even have to be original material every time; the running gag was a staple of previous generations of comedians.

My favorite is to suffer in silence, but to make sure everybody knows what it is I'm being silent about.

 

[Amethyst]

Hmm. Do the 5 products all do something needful?

We use a store-brand liquid detergent in the washer, and when we use the electric dryer (instead of the solar/wind-powered dryer) we use no products in it at all. I think I gave up dryer sheets some time late in the last century.

Despite this primitiveness, our clothes come put clean and smelling good.

Oh, OK, just remembered: I use Ivory Liquid to wash out gym clothes in the sink. The elastic fabric lasts longer when it's washed by hand, and the Ivory is gentler than laundry detergent.

So, that's two laundry products...

Now that I think of it, the motivation for using so few laundry items wasn't green-ness, or even cheapness (well, not entirely). It was more that when I did try a new laundry product, it never seemed to accomplish much more than the detergent did, and it took up space on the shelf.

I try to count all the chemical products I have at home. There are 5 just for dryer and washer. .

 

[Elbata]

Yeah as one ages and is retired, these kinds of thoughts are more prevalent.
The career game is over and in a more relaxed mode, one smells the roses more frequently.

I wonder if that's the reason studies show the older folks are more content than the youngins.

 

[unclemick]

Soo - does reading a 'fun' thread like this one on the forum constitute happiness?

heh heh heh -

 

[aja8888]

I am happy now in the early morning hours, compared to last night at 10PM. I revived my wife's PC once more. And yes, I broke it again.

Lots of BSD ("blue screen of death") last night, with Win10 issuing different error codes each time it crashed. I slept only 4 hours, and had to get up to solve it.

It's working now, when I already resigned to getting my wife another PC. Heck, I already surfed Amazon to look for deals at 11PM last night.

Check the Dell refurb site.

 

[jollystomper]

If we here are all so happy, why is there a "Pet Peeve of the Day" thread and not a "Happy Moment of the Day" Thread?

 

[travelover]

If we here are all so happy, why is there a "Pet Peeve of the Day" thread and not a "Happy Moment of the Day" Thread?

Anyone can start a thread.

 

[sengsational]

Happiness for me is contentment with what/who you have. I love my wife of 31 years, and can't imagine starting over

If you go back to what the stoic philosophers said and practiced, you learn that they suggested that to better appreciate what you currently have, you can practice "negative visualization". That's pretty close to what you did just there with thoughts of your wife.

"I've got to fix a PC" becomes "I have a wife that I can help", "I can walk to the PC", "I can see the screen", "I have my faculties of reasoning". What if I didn't have those things?

It sounds like it would be a downer, and make you sad, but the reality is that it makes you happier because you better appreciate what you have.


The article, where they talk about health issues, it's probably easy to imagine someone who's even worse-off with respect to their health than you currently are. Forget how you are no longer a healthy 16 year old. Just realize that even with your current aliments, you could be bind, you could be immobilized. Wow, I'm going walk out and watch a sunset!

 

[robnplunder]

Soo - does reading a 'fun' thread like this one on the forum constitute happiness?

heh heh heh -

Not me. These are fillers. I haven't been posting on ER forum b/c I was too busy having fun in my retirement. I am on a little break and that gave me time to browse for interesting topics and post.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I try to count all the chemical products I have at home. I stopped counting at 50. There are 5 just for dryer and washer. Another 2 for dishwasher. 10+ different products specific to cleaning - one for silverware, another for kitchen cabinet, windex, ..... The thing is, years ago, an average household could get by with just a few. E.g., Growing up, I used soap as we had no shampoo or conditioner. We used another type of soap for washing clothes. These days, I try to do my best to live with "least" to avoid adding things to the dumpster.

I've got books on home made, non-toxic products. I try to keep it simple and use Dr. Bronner's Castile, baking soda, vinegar and essential oils for most of the cleaning around the house. I do use separate products for things like dishwasher detergent and laundry. One of my ongoing projects to replace most of the chemical products one by one with home recipes with non-toxic ingredients.

 

[Bir48die]

Happiness comes and goes. We do things and buy things that make us happy in the moment. There can be long and short periods of happiness.

On the other hand there is joy, peace, thankfulness and contentment. Long lasting characteristics. Happiness runs in the middle of all of these.

There can be frustrations with happiness as we set some goal and attain it or buy a gadget we've wanted for a long time but then the feeling is gone quickly and short lived for the most part. We move on to what will be the next "thing". Because of this I've tried to work on the long term view. However, I do still get a charge when my Amazon packages arrive so I'm guilty as charged.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

It is sad there are so many homeless in he Bay Area, but really every night, especially lately when it has been cold, it makes me appreciate just having a warm bed out of the rain to sleep in.

 

[Carpediem]

Living a frugal lifestyle gives you opportunity to appreciate a splurge moment now and then like our upcoming trip back to Sandals South Coast Jamaica for the third time

What time of year do you like to go there if you don't mind me asking? DW's 60th bday is next year so I thought this might be a nice trip.

 

[TromboneAl]

Good reminder:

"The real key to happiness at every age and stage—particularly old age—is not material things, but gratitude for life’s simple blessings, such as laughter among friends or watching a sunset with a loved one, said Lehmann, the Johns Hopkins doctor. “It’s the small things in life that end up mattering most of all.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-secret-to-chronic-happiness-as-you-age_3019233.html

This TED talk is good:

 

[CardsFan]

We are the happiest when socializing with friends. For about 45 years, DW's friends have been camping at a family farm every Memorial Day and Labor day. Our son grew up with this, and now there are grandkids are as well (no grandkids here, but we adopt a few for the weekends). We see some of these folks weekly, and some we only see twice a year, but we all feel like family at the farm.

The memories are what it is all about. We have a photo of about a dozen of the kids, covered from head to to toe in mud (rained that weekend). The "kids" are now all in their late 30's, but they still talk about that.

Making memories.

 

[Shredder]

What? no one said weed makes them happy?

I'm happy I'm not drug tested anymore, and that my state allows home grows. Its the freedom I believe to make my own decisions, more than anything.

 

[HI Bill]

whining, bitching and moaning can be good clean fun. Not to mention adding credit toward toward your Curmudgeon Certificate. ...So?? Can grumpy Curmudgeonism be a left handed form of happiness?? As long as you don't take yourself too serious?

To each his or her own. I find that ignoring the bad things in the world which don't affect me, and over which I have no control, along with avoiding the grumpy people, helps me to maintain a more constant, happy attitude!

Bumper sticker I saw on a car once: "I love my bad ass attitude". I saw the owner of the car, and she scowled at me. I laughed, and thought, I'm sure glad I'm not her. Now, I avoid folks like that!

 

[ckelly78z]

I have been consciously working to be more patient with situations I can't control, no reason for needless stressing about it. I have also developed a deep appreciation for family, and home time...just enjoying a sunny day in our farmyard, or while camping with friends.

 

[ckelly78z]

What time of year do you like to go there if you don't mind me asking? DW's 60th bday is next year so I thought this might be a nice trip.

We have been there in February twice, and really loved it, but had airport delays coming, and going because of bad weather. 2 years ago, we were there 2 weeks before Christmas, and decided that is the best time to go, everything is decorated, and it is off season, so not crowded.

 

[oldtrig]

Happiness = Health as you age.

I am close to 50. Everyone in my family in their 60s and 70s are unhealthy and miserable. They eat too much. Doctor appointments and pills take all the time.

Nothing is more important than health.

I am heading on 73 and feel great. Don't go to any doctors except for the yearly thing.



I do agree on your views though. I watch people a lot and most older people I see are overweight and look miserable. Some I think are old are only in their 40's and 50's.



That age thing is only s number. Well maybe a little more I have married for almost 50 years and yes we are both happy with life.

We just got to keep moving and not sit down for very long.

 

[MRG]

Lot of things go into happy. Health is a big contributor. You can change your weight but many people don't understand how to start or how miserable they are because of weight. Other health issues maybe or maybe not?

Right now I'm working on anxiety; a lifetime companion. Sometimes it has served me well now I don't need it. So it's going away no drugs involved. Breathing exercises help and recognition is the beginning of answers.

It's a good exercise to remember what does make us happy.

 

[CoolRich59]

I find the best way to maintain happiness (and sanity) is to stop watching the news.

Spiro Agnew was a lousy vice-president, but he had the best quote when he referred to the news media as the 'nattering nabobs of negativism'.