My husband has CFS too. Hang in there!

@Rachel I just want to say as someone who wants very badly to be in a health field and who is on the verge of a major life change in going to nursing school, that I hope you don’t entirely count yourself out. There are many types of jobs in nursing, for instance, and not all of them are long hours & high stress. There is occupational health jobs where you might work with an insurance company to man the phones. There is home health care on a contract basis where you might only have to work part time. Since the RN can be achieved through community college, it is an affordable route to a satisfying career – don’t listen only to the naysayers! Yes, the classes are hard but you can take them one at a time to start – that’s what I did. And elderly relatives might benefit from your learning and experience. I just want to give you positive thoughts in that direction.

I love this post and I just now finally made my list, which might help change my thinking. Though I still frivolously want to buy a guitar right now. *sigh* (One of my goals is musical practice though! So…)

What you want is a traditional retirement. Stay home, putter around in the garden, play golf or tennis if you like them (cards or mah jong if you’re not athletic), have lunch at cute cafes or bistros, read the paper out on the patio with a cup of coffee. Now, how do you do that when you have car pool, parent-teacher conference, the mess the kids left in the front hall and the kitchen (not to mention where will the money come from if you don’t go to work)?

Stella – great post and very true.

That is on a par with mindless actions, behavior and spending, whether or not they put you in financial or emotional jeopardy.

One of the things that impresses me the most about Trent’s blog and posts, even when I strongly disagree with him, is that I believe he has given reflection and serious thought to his choices and his behavior and has, more importantly sought to get to the root of his actions to ensure that his life is in harmony with his beliefs and goals. Folks, it takes courage and thought and then ACTION to create a life. It takes digging, exploring and focusing on options, choices, etc. before you can make a plan and more course-correction to adjust it as needed.

There’s a reason that so many people find themselves miserable in their lives and it’s not just because they lost jobs or have financial challenges. It’s becuase they have not paid attention to their deepest selves and desires. If you don’t know who you are and what you want (and it changes), you can’t plan to “run” your life in harmony with that. THIS lack of thought and focus is what causes all sorts of pain in life, much of it unnecessary.

To be clear, when I speak of reflection and thought, I don’t mean idle navel-gazing. Or thinking solely about yourself, but your whole life including those you care about, in context.

What may have worked for other generations no longer works and not thinking and not living mindfully is simply in my opinion a true waste of your life.

You know why people become dissatisfied? They lose their connection to themselves. They try to end their pain and frustration through “toys” and mindless activity–and sometimes, addictions of one kind or another. When, finally, as usually happens at some point, they hit bottom, they realize that denial and lack of introspection won’t work.

Yea, people can get paralyzed by too much analysis. But you can waste a life by NEVER really thinking about where you are, where you want to be and how to change.

Life is too short to be mindless and simply “busy.” Which is what happens to most of us, especially if things appear to work.

For some of us, like Trent, it’s when things don’t work that life becomes really interesting and we start really finding out why we’re here.

Oh, and the idea that it comes from “having too much”? Plenty of people who have very little feel the same way but simply don’t have the time to think it let alone verbalize it. But the problems still exist.

I’ve interviewed million-dollar income execs and line workers in factories. You would be very surprised to learn that they share a lot of the same concerns about issues in their lives.

But the folks with higher incomes have far more options. But we always have options.

And we always have the chance to reinvent ourselves and our lives.

Trent, this post was brilliant in so many ways. Your words: “I want something, but I don’t know what it is” are familiar to many, who are honest enough–where many are not–to admit that their lives aren’t “working” regardless of their circumstances.

You get one shot at life. You may not get to live your wildest dreams BUT that doesn’t mean you cannot create a meaningful life that works for you and those you love.

It’s actually horribly depressing that there isn’t a single job in the world that I know of, that I could get remotely excited about.

In terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I am fortunately very high up the triangle. Self actualisation is incredibly difficult, maybe impossible for the majority.

God I feel depressed now!;)

But whenever I follow this exercise, or anything similar, I just can’t get beyond visualising myself on holiday: relaxed and happy, without a care in the world. That is my ultimate goal, but short of winning the lottery, it really isn’t within my grasp (admittedly because I have children and don’t want them to be nomadic gypsies!) How does one overcome that?

If you think about it, you can make some amazing transformations in your life in “only” five years!

From getting a degree, to starting a family, paying off your debt. Set your goals, and work out a plan to complete them in a realistic time frame! If your passionate about your goals you’ll have a good chance of success!

If not, then maybe you need to consider your goals!

This is really ‘My Definite Major Purpose’ as Napoleon Hill calls it in ‘Think and Grow Rich’.