Wednesday. Fandango’s Provocative Question once again. I’ve just had a busy morning and am having a late lunch, so I’ll try and get a few words down now, and just knock it into publishable shape tonight. This week, Fandango asks:
Are you satisfied with your life at the moment. If so, what is it that brings you the greatest satisfaction? If not, what might you do to achieve satisfaction in your life?
I think the difficult thing here is not so much defining what satisfaction is, but recognising that there are several aspects of life, each of which might be satisfactory/unsatisfactory in its own right. Coming up with an aggregate is not so easy.
Some examples, not exhaustive. And I’m going to use the Columns Block just to wind up all you classic-lovers:
REASONS TO BE SATISFIED
REASONS NOT TO BE SATISFIED
- I’m glad I got my brain back after the stroke
- I’m happy with where I live
- I’m happy that that I got to see other parts of the world
- I’m happy being married. In fact married life, despite my quips, just gets better.
- I’m happy that I do charity work, and that is directly helping people.
- I’m satisfied that my values are good ones. But, aren’t we all?
- I’m not satisfied with some of the other things after the stroke that seem to be more permanent
- I’m not satisfied that I don’t drive at the moment
- I’m not satisfied that it is such a big deal to get up to London – the best work is in London
- I’m not satisfied with my general back-to-work situation.
- I’m not satisfied that I can’t ride my bicycle
- I’m not satisfied with all the weight gain since the stroke. I once prided myself that I was below average, when the rest of the world was becoming obese.
- I’m not satisfied with how parenting, or my daughter, turned out. I know parenting is hard work, but the kicker is that she has ended up with such totally different values to me.
Off the top of my head. As you can see, some of the things I am dissatisfied with, I can’t actually do anything about. So, in terms of what do I do?, it’s a case of tough luck.
Maybe you can read something into my overall satisfaction level from the relative lengths of these lists? I dunno, if you can, that’s probably just as good a guess as I can make.
You seem to have a good balance Pete. No matter how much we try, learn, self-develop, we’re always going to have times when we’re not satisfied. I think satisfaction on a continuum and is ever-changing.
And as you said, some of the things you’re dissatisfied with are out of your control. We sometimes have to accept these things and move on.
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Life offers us the good and the bad, but it seems that you’re making the most of the cards you’ve been dealt.
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“We” were asked and you delivered. Physical limitations come with the age-territory so you may be worse off than some but better than others. I’m glad you have a life-partner that you not only enjoy but that are enjoying more. Do what we all do; enhance the good, minimize the bad. Take care, MB.
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It’s funny, I found out just this evening that a couple we have known for years just split up. Their child and ours went to school together, so must be at least 15 years. I kind-of think, when you’ve been together this long, it’s “for life” but obviously not everybody sees things that way.
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the pandemic is making some couples realize that aren’t meant to be together,
some couples stay together until the children are ‘old enough’ – then they go live the lives that they’ve been missing
it’s sometimes hard to ‘see’ how an unhappy marriage just isn’t ‘doable’ from the inside of a ‘happy’ or ‘tolerable’ marriage
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