My Ideal Life

[suomalainen]

As mentioned elsewhere, I'm considering a new job opportunity that will bring a change in lifestyle (work/life balance). That brought me to the idea of "design a life you wouldn't want to retire from". As I've thought about that, I think that phrase implies a static design and/or life. The problem with "designing" "a life", is that things change. Life changes. So I don't know really how to think about this concept. Looking for inspiration.

And I feel like a bit of an outsider here in that I am in the kids phase of life, which appears to not be the majority here (and is a challenge to ere). So, I thought to start a thread where people briefly describe their ideal life, based on a typical week, while also disclosing any extenuating circumstances, and also whether that ideal life has changed over the years. I'm curious about ideal lives and how they are different based on people's circumstances.

My current (non-ideal) life (for suggested formatting purposes):

Circumstances: late 30s, married, not fire, 3 kids (8-13)

Sun: sleep in, workout, reading/online/puttering around, dinner, kids time
Mon-Fri: work 9-6, lunch workout, dinner, kids homework/activities, personal time after 9pm (guitar, tv, online chess or books depending on mood)
sat: sleep in, kids activities, house chores, reading/online/puttering around, family movie night

Changes over time: less direct time with kids (reading to or playing with them) and more indirect time (chaffuering to activities), but the rest has mostly stayed the same

[slowtraveler]

I was just thinking about this.

Sun: Cook for the week, prep meals that taste good and won't take long to reprepare-ie- noodles, rice, curries, vegetable soup; clean home; plan out week
Monday-Saturday: Workout, get massage, learn language/work/read/scuba/see new part of the world, enjoy my pre-made meals, enjoy lover, dance or see friends some nights.

Eventually move on to either having a family and teaching kids various skills/ showing them the world or building a knowledge based business that I feel significantly contributes to others' lives.

[stand@desk]

Is it just me or would a lot of INTJs just prefer to putter around in general? I think it would be great to make a career out of it. I basically putter in most of my free time. (Putter=do things around the home, read, clean-up, do chores, prepare food, spend time with family, go on the internet, run errands etc)

[trailblazer]

For general inspiration in building a daily routine, I like the book Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. He provides short summaries of the daily routines of well known individuals - eating, exercise, hobbies, mixing work and family and even personal hygiene. There is a surprising amount of puttering that takes place.

Mostly focused on artists and scientists, but they are all people earning a living doing productive work they care about. A fair number have children that are key parts of their life.

[meursault]

My ideal daily routine --
10% - exercise, do self-improvement stuff etc.
50% - work on my own projects that will or will not make money, but will help society
30% - spend quality time with friends and families
10% - just resting and time to myself to enjoy "non-productive" stuff like good games/books
00% - life maintenance (cleaning etc.)

My current routine --
5% - exercise, self-improvement
55% - work for someone else
20% - spend time with loved ones
10% - resting and entertainment
15% - life maintenance

almost ideal, except the working for someone else part. I still like my job though.

[EdithKeeler]

My ideal life:
—good coffee in the morning, couple of eggs for breakfast
—long walk on the beach with dogs
—set the crab pots
—fish off the back porch while reading a book
—putter in the garden a bit, picking and washing veggies to go with the catch of the day
—other puttering in the kitchen or doing crafty stuff or writing
—late lunch/early dinner (catch of the day)
—long walk on beach with dogs and DBF
—some days punctuated by social stuff—having people in for dinner, going out.

Yes, no paid employment in there. I’d sure like to try this for a while, see how long it takes me to get tired of it....

[thrifty++]

—fish off the back porch while reading a book
\

You can fish off your back porch? Where do you live?

[EdithKeeler]

You can fish off your porch? Where do you live?

Can’t yet, but my ideal house, where I will live in my ideal life, is on a canal in Galveston.