Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

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TopHatFox
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Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by TopHatFox »

Ever hit a growth plateau? You're now more or less good at eating healthfully, exercising, grooming, dressing well, saving, investing, producing computer work, public speaking, writing, critical thinking, building stuff, repairing stuff, organizing others, visiting places, etc.

...now what? Are there limitations to growth? It feels like I'm asking less questions than I was when I first started posting on here a few years ago? Do you find a similar phenomenon? (S curves come to mind) Maybe the solution then is simply to find new S curves? Maybe this thread is touching on the "is this all there is to life" that C40 and other of you tend to feel post-FI?

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Ego
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by Ego »

Add a second person to the mix and continue. That's when things really get interesting.

BRUTE
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by BRUTE »

Olaz wrote:You're now more or less good at eating healthfully, exercising, grooming, dressing well, saving, investing, producing computer work, public speaking, writing, critical thinking, building stuff, repairing stuff, organizing others, visiting places, etc.
doing things right for a week is the easy part. the hard part is maintaining them for the rest of Olaz' life. even with a high savings rate, FI will take the better part of a decade. even with a healthy diet and exercise regimen, getting in great shape might take years.

OTCW
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by OTCW »

I think one can always improve a general set of skills. Even picking a specific few to grow into expert level can take the better part of a lifetime/career.

It is great to be able to put things like eating healthy/exercising/personal finance on autopilot. When they just become part of the trappings of your life without any conscious effort, it gives you more time for developing other areas.

Other sets of things you can always work at/grow with at an active level. Up to you to decide the ones you want to pursue and to what degree.

'More or less good at' vs expert at is the part that takes work deciding and attaining.

BeyondtheWrap
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by BeyondtheWrap »

Find your passion. Or your mission, whatever you want to call it. Change the world/Help people/Contribute something original.

What did you used to want to do when you grow up? Or, as the years go by, what do you regret not doing?

What do you look forward to? What do you look back on and think was a good use of your time?

Don't think you have to figure out what to do for the rest of your life. What do you want your next project to be?

You mentioned writing and public speaking. Is there a message you think people need to be hearing?

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Ego
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by Ego »

Go play in traffic
https://youtu.be/as6QiNtwbR4?t=1m56s



Spitting image of my father with the same meandering storytelling and similar accent.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

There are infinite ways to expand your range and/or domain. For instance, now you know how to cook lentils. You can grow lentils, improve soil in which to grow lentils, breed new varieties of lentils, concoct 100 recipes for lentils, write and publish a book on lentil cookery, prepare lentils for a crowd of 100, represent the interests of lentil farmers in congress, etc. etc. etc.

It's fairly common for individuals to feel like they have spread themselves too thin. When you get the "Is this all there is to life?" feeling, it may be a sign that you have spread yourself too thick. However, I wouldn't fret about this at your age and in your circumstances, since you are likely soon heading out from the protected bay to the wide open ocean.

J_
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by J_ »

@7wannabe5 +1,
yes I think too that the question is age related. And later you see it, that with allll things Olaz mentions you can be very glad and count every day that you are so blessed.

But, by the way dear 7, why would you like to be 5?

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C40
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by C40 »

I think if you aren't asking yourself that question, you're not trying hard enough in life, or your expectations are too low. It doesn't mean you've reached an end of meaning or whatever. It might just come up because you're making 'progress'

7Wannabe5
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

J_ said: But, by the way dear 7, why would you like to be 5?
Oh, because I was hoping to push myself towards more achievement of mastery rather than my usual uber-generalist jill-of-all-trades throw five balls up into the air and then slip on a banana peel while attempting to read and walk at the same time type functioning.

When I was at Zalo's phase-of-life in terms of educational attainment, I already had a two-year old and another bun in the oven, so I never had the opportunity to ONLY take care of myself as an independent adult until my DD25 graduated from college herself a few years ago. There was a time in my life when I was so loaded down with obligations and responsibilities that I would find myself lingering in locked stalls of public restrooms because nobody and nothing could bother me there for a few minutes. No leaking roof on 150 year old house, no PTO meeting to attend, no tax notice in the mail, no husband (ex) stating "Soup is not a meal", no 5 year old shoving a plastic bead up nose, no service engine light flashing on during rural commute through snow storm...

J_
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by J_ »

@ 7w5 So, for you there was " too much to life" then. I think I can compare/understand a litle of the same at 26 with a DD of 5, working combining with studying and living abroad, not a leaking roof but a false complaining landlord etc. But I think we both have recovered.

@ C 40 It is not feeling having reached all, no I think there is always something or someone to give/pay attention to. And that makes it worth to live life.

OTCW
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by OTCW »

Also, for subjects that interest you, you can go beyond the how to level and look into the why, when, where, etc.

jacob
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by jacob »

Olaz wrote:Ever hit a growth plateau? You're now more or less good at eating healthfully, exercising, grooming, dressing well, saving, investing, producing computer work, public speaking, writing, critical thinking, building stuff, repairing stuff, organizing others, visiting places, etc.
This is what it takes to become a functional adult. Historically, the random person has hit that point somewhere between age 12 and 95. I hit it around 24. Previous generations hit it much sooner, on average.

Now, lets move on to more serious issues ...

daylen
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by daylen »

+1 to what OTCW said.. start asking why more.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

J_said: But I think we both have recovered.
Uh-huh, as the bard sang "I was so much older then, I am younger than that now."

Dragline
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by Dragline »

What the Back Pages of Nobel Prizes are made of. I must listen to that at least once a month.

rfgh
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Re: Growth limitations? "Is this all there is to life"?

Post by rfgh »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
J_ said: But, by the way dear 7, why would you like to be 5?
"Soup is not a meal"
Sounds like you were married to Kenny Bania.

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