How things can flip over the years...

[Douglas.Curtis]

I used to wake up and be upset about it. Life was chaos and difficult, and rather touch and go the first few decades. (I realized a lot of it was high functioning autism at about 35. lol)

20 years later I am a happy man. Life is still chaos and difficult, but I do not care one bit. I am content, constantly moving forward, joyful, positive, and full of a deeply rooted love of life.

What happened?

20 years ago, I made an agreement with my wife that we would work together toward positive goals. We decided we would only discuss a problem with the goal to find a solution. (drama was kicked to the porch) We also picked up 'Lead the Field,' and listened to it constantly for a few years. My wife even made a ringtone which constantly reminded her to keep a positive attitude.

We have spent 20 years talking to each other about eeeeeeverything, and we are so in love it would make my younger self ill. lol Our disagreements are brief and infrequent now, and usually my fault. heh

Life is good, and I wish everyone could experience it as such. Life has not changed, but my interpretation of it sure has.

Be good to yourselves! You deserve it.

 

[Northern Man]

Reminds me of advice, years back from an older fella I worked with at my first job. He always told me to say "I love you" to my wife everyday, especially when you left for work and or out for the day. Never go a day without saying it. He claimed It was the secret to the best relationship you could have with your wife.

25 years later, my wife and I love each other as much as when we met. I can count on one hand the amount of "serious" discussions we had.

With over 50 years of marriage my Dad would say, HE made all the BIG decisions, but to date, he never had to, lol.

We live, we learn and appreciate everyday we are together.

Especially now that I have long haulers covid, She has been my anchor and by my side.

Bring what it may, but always together you find the strength needed to overcome such inconvenience's in life. That, to me is life to the fullest!

NM

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

So awesome to hear the same.

Every day I tell her how much I love her, how awesome and amazing she is, and how she is my world. We both feel like we've been in a sort of dream since we met, with memories of the time before 'us' rarely intruding.

Everyone you meet has insecurities about themselves and the world, and everyone you meet is capable of being an awesome human. I always try to keep that in mind when dealing with anyone at all, and especially with my wife. It takes a lot of work, honesty, and dedication to be the best version of yourself. It was significantly easier with a partner.

It must be working, I have an increasing number of people telling me how much they appreciate who I am and how awesome it is to have me around. Head swelling stuff, if I was not so grounded and such a realist. lol I really just enjoy helping people get a better grip on life and happiness, which is definitely not expected from strangers today.

Drastically different from my spastic youth. lol

 

[gizmo666]

think me and the wife can pretty much relate to that
when we first met 25 years ago we both had "baggage" from previous relationships and we spent a lot of time argueing over meaningless crap
but after she had a major health scare around 20 years ago we realised what was important and that was each other
yea 25 years on and we are still like a courting couple
we laugh we hold hands we kiss no matter who is around us
we always tell each other how we feel
even moreso now as last year she had multyple strokes leaving her blind now
but our love for each other means we still laugh everyday
life is very short
enjoy every day
peace

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Someone asked me honestly... "What if I just become a player for life?"

I told them honestly that they would be missing out on one of the greatest things life has to offer. A loving and honest relationship with another human being.

Be good to yourselves, and ty for sharing how awesome people can be.

 

[buzzmobile]

Be good to yourselves, and ty for sharing how awesome people can be.

I'll add "...and be nice to each other." My wife and I have been married 41 years and we're gaining on the 42nd year. We still like each other.

Congratulations to all of the "long haulers".

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Congrats to your awesomeness and keep on trucking...

My parents made it 50yrs, before my dad kicked it while he could still walk to the end of the block and back. (Good job Pop!) Unable to talk, he and my mother joked and laughed through pen and notebook till he could no longer write.

One of the last things he wrote, in addition to many declarations of adoration and love was "I like you"

Humans rock!

 

[Switcher56]

I used to wake up and be upset about it. Life was chaos and difficult, and rather touch and go the first few decades. (I realized a lot of it was high functioning autism at about 35. lol)

20 years later I am a happy man. Life is still chaos and difficult, but I do not care one bit. I am content, constantly moving forward, joyful, positive, and full of a deeply rooted love of life.

What happened?

20 years ago, I made an agreement with my wife that we would work together toward positive goals. We decided we would only discuss a problem with the goal to find a solution. (drama was kicked to the porch) We also picked up 'Lead the Field,' and listened to it constantly for a few years. My wife even made a ringtone which constantly reminded her to keep a positive attitude.

We have spent 20 years talking to each other about eeeeeeverything, and we are so in love it would make my younger self ill. lol Our disagreements are brief and infrequent now, and usually my fault. heh

Life is good, and I wish everyone could experience it as such. Life has not changed, but my interpretation of it sure has.

Be good to yourselves! You deserve it.

 

[Switcher56]

Someone asked me honestly... "What if I just become a player for life?"

I told them honestly that they would be missing out on one of the greatest things life has to offer. A loving and honest relationship with another human being.

Be good to yourselves, and ty for sharing how awesome people can be.

Not easily done these days as humanity as a whole is in the toilet!

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I have to say, when we met my wife and I both were not handling life well on our own. It took several years of working on our issues together before things calmed down dramatically.

I really believe a big key was our decision to work together toward 'positive' and worthwhile goals. Sometimes I would wander off and she would call me out on it. Sometimes she would wander off and I would call her out. Sometimes we would both wander off and have both of us working hard to get back to the path.

Our agreement was to not get upset when called out, because we agreed to head toward the same goals. Individually we are capable of a great many things, but it pales in comparison to what we can do with a coach. We all need an outside perspective to help keep our awareness in check.

 

[Tudo]

I remember sitting at a bar at some airport when I was traveling a lot in this case I guesstimate 30 years ago or so, talking with a fellow from Georgia and we got on the subject of left, right, liberal, conservative and this is before I finally had my own mind made right and when I asked him are you a conservative? He said no a liberal and when asked to illuminate the terrain, he said something like a Southern Liberal is similar to a Northern Conservative.
Something like that....remember, it was at a bar

 

[armedoldhippy]

He said no a liberal and when asked to illuminate the terrain, he said something like a Southern Liberal is similar to a Northern Conservative.
Something like that....remember, it was at a bar

i had a guy explain what a "libertarian" was. he said that a libertarian was the guy a Republican would call when he ran out of weed ...close enough, lol.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Edit: Apologies, I find anything to do with politics to be nearly the opposite of what this thread is about.

Working on improving my relationship with my spouse, or working toward other positive goals will always be infinitely more important to me than discussing politics. Though I have to say my opinion on the subject has -not- changed over the years.