Life Goals

[dreamaastrid]

Just wondering, how many of you have reached all the big Life Goals you set as a kid? like you wanted to finish college or be at a certain point in your career or get married or have X number of children, own your own home or travel or do volunteer work or own X number of material possessions - cars/boats/RVs/Vacation properties, etc. etc.

When you get all those things, are happily enjoying these things - how do you go about setting any more goals so you aren't bored without any longterm goals? Or is it even necessary to always have longterm goals? And I mean goals more exciting than a to do list with your next home improvement project, where you are going out to dinner next week, picking your vacation destination, or your investment strategies...

just wondering what everyone elses thoughts on this subject are

Comments

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

You had goals? :)

Actually, some of my "goals" were kind of killed by circumstances (such as wanting to be an astronaut, joining the air force, etc), while others are just taking a while.

I wanted to get a degree as a Rocket Scientist (tm). Check.
I wanted to get a job. Check (whether or not I'm happy with the job is another question. Still working on that).
I wanted to get married. Check.
I wanted to have kids. Not yet.
I wanted to retire. Not yet.
I wanted to win the lottery. Keep dreaming.

Everything else is basically "whatever my short term goals are".

I didn't really have any long term goals other than the school/job/marriage/kids/retire thing. Everything else in between was "what makes me happy?"

try the military family lifestyle...

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

and the result is that you have trouble seeing more than 2 holidays ahead, much less 2-5 years, much less "the future".

the first time i ever saw a "future" was about a third of my way through being a freshman at college. i walked into the vax lab (room full of vt220s) and just instantly felt the comfort of ages. at that point (though changing majors would still be 18 months away), I knew that everything i would do would be to achieve being a software developer.

my only real "goal" in life has ever been "contentment". its not a permanent state, merely the plateaus one must climb to (though I'll only climb it if I actually *see* that its a plateau in the first place).

in that, its something i've achieved on numerous occasions, and will achieve again. i'm not there now as i'm in a climb again, though this time its a light slope, not a steep one.