What is your rich life like?

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cyanide12345678

cyanide12345678

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I guess I’ve been listening to Ramit Sethi podcasts quite a bit recently and have been attempting introspection to understand the kind of life i want to build in the future.

So, to everyone out there, what would your rich life look like? What do you really want out of your life?

I’ll try to go first, my thoughts are a rudimentary work in progress right now. My rich life would ironically consist of some sort of work i think. Maybe 10-15 hours per week. It won’t be something that has set times, it will be something flexible, something i can do whenever i want to. And hopefully it will be meaningful work. Looking back at life, some of the most meaningful work I’ve done was when i volunteered in a soup kitchen more than 10 years ago.

In my rich ideal life, id see my kids everyday. Right now, every day shift is a day i dont see my daughter. I leave before she’s up, and return after she’s asleep. I want to have the energy and time to be actively present - take her to the zoo, library, out to eat ice cream, kite flying, trampoline park etc at least 2-3 times a week. And while i love her, i want days where i can just drop her off at daycare and relax and sleep in.

I want a life with a set circadian rhythm and a life where i don’t have to sell my time for money, and i have enough passive cash flow where a comfortable living is possible.

I would love a life where i could just take a 6 month vacation, cruise around the world, or drive through South America and Europe while spending every week in a different country.

I also would love for a life where my kids are successful on their own, smart, kind, and essentially not a-holes.

That’s what i got so far. What would your rich ideal life look like?
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I was talking to a friend about what I'd do if I won the lottery for, like 5 million. I was surprised (and pleased) to realize that pretty much everything I came up with I could do already.

Yeah, I guess I'd work less. But like you, I don't want to retire right now...sounds boring.
 
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It’s funny .. I don’t know that I’d do much different .. I don’t really like to travel and I have four kids and going to work is sometimes the easier post (I say this towards the end of my husbands 24+ hour fire shift.. the bane of my existence) .. no desire to retire/live beyond my useful years .. I’d probably buy more rental property if I won the lottery and maybe eat out slightly more tbh that would be about it. We are highly blessed/fortunate/however you prefer to look at it.
 
Have also been watching that Netflix show by the podcast guy you mentioned. For me, ER would be sustainable with day shift only, OB in house, and not dealing with sick kids or my constant fear of pedi codes (although rare). But I can’t find that job. So thinking of a pain or palliative fellowship. I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal. Rich life would include trips to Disney for the kids, Europe for the spouse, a nice house, and a safe neighborhood with a good school system, and saving for the future. Slowly getting there…
 
TrailRun said:
Have also been watching that Netflix show by the podcast guy you mentioned. For me, ER would be sustainable with day shift only, OB in house, and not dealing with sick kids or my constant fear of pedi codes (although rare). But I can’t find that job. So thinking of a pain or palliative fellowship. I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal. Rich life would include trips to Disney for the kids, Europe for the spouse, a nice house, and a safe neighborhood with a good school system, and saving for the future. Slowly getting there…
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The show was alright. His podcast really dives into the psychology of money and how upbringing plays a huge role in how we view money.

The Netflix show was too basic for me. The podcast is actually making me really want to focus on quality of life and what needs to be done.
 
TrailRun said:
Have also been watching that Netflix show by the podcast guy you mentioned. For me, ER would be sustainable with day shift only, OB in house, and not dealing with sick kids or my constant fear of pedi codes (although rare). But I can’t find that job. So thinking of a pain or palliative fellowship. I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal. Rich life would include trips to Disney for the kids, Europe for the spouse, a nice house, and a safe neighborhood with a good school system, and saving for the future. Slowly getting there…
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If an FP and a part time internist (wife and me) can do literally everything on your list this year, a full time EP should have no trouble.
 
I’d stop working period.

I keep hearing people on this forum say ‘I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I retired or didn’t need to work anymore’.


Yeah, I am NOT that guy.

If you seriously can’t figure out what else you could do if not working, that tells me either that your job is your whole life, or you really suffer from a lack of imagination.

A good portion of my free time goes into exercise, picking up and dropping off my kids to school, doing some cooking, and growing my vegetable garden. That’s enough to just take up most of one’s day without working as it is.

If money were no object, I’d travel a lot more, on first class direct flights. Once the kids were grown, I’d do the snowbird thing in reverse. Have a summer home up north to escape the Texas heat from May to mid October, then come back.

Read. A lot more. Learn another language. There’s literally no shortage of other things I’ve been meaning to do that I couldn’t get around to because of time/financial constraints.
 
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bravotwozero said:
I’d stop working period.

I keep hearing people on this forum say ‘I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I retired or didn’t need to work anymore’.


Yeah, I am NOT that guy.

If you seriously can’t figure out what else you could do if not working, that tells me either that your job is your whole life, or you really suffer from a lack of imagination.

A good portion of my free time goes into exercise, picking up and dropping off my kids to school, doing some cooking, and growing my vegetable garden. That’s enough to just take up most of one’s day without working as it is.

If money were no object, I’d travel a lot more, on first class direct flights. Once the kids were grown, I’d do the snowbird thing in reverse. Have a summer home up north to escape the Texas heat from May to mid October, then come back.

Read. A lot more. Learn another language. There’s literally no shortage of other things I’ve been meaning to do that I couldn’t get around to because of time/financial constraints.
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Seriously…how often do you water your garden. My BlackBerries and strawberries look rough. The mint and onions look terrible too. I’m failing at gardening.
 
cyanide12345678 said:
Seriously…how often do you water your garden. My BlackBerries and strawberries look rough. The mint and onions look terrible too. I’m failing at gardening.
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In Texas in the summer he may have to water 2-3x per day. Mint is a weed. You should be able to grow mint. Lol
 
I’d do a week of days in the ICU every other month, with a team of residents and fellows to do all my scut work, and pick up maybe 4-6 EM shifts at a month, again no nights.

I’d teach physiology to med students.

I’d have a premed shadowing or advising program of some kind, helping disadvantaged kids get into med school.

I’d have a house in south Florida on 3 acres of land. I’d pay a full time groundskeeper to keep it tidy, just do the bits of gardening I enjoy. We’d have chickens, and a pond with fish. Teach the theoretical kids about the natural world.

And for a month every summer I’d rent a cabin on a lake somewhere in the wilderness to get away from it all with my wife and theoretical kids. They can learn how to fish, camp, and chop wood. Tell ghost stories around a fire.

I’d take some mechanic classes to learn how to work on cars, and rebuild a broken down 1979 L48 t-top stingray Corvette just like the one I had when I was 18. Jet black with a red pinstripe and reeking of unburnt hydrocarbons.

I also have a thing for electronic music festivals, so would never get old so I can keep going to a few of those a year with my friends who would also not get old or sick of the shenanigans.
 
I used to think i would keep working in EM. Now I dont know. 15-ish years into this I dont know. That being said reaching coastFI/FI etc makes life and work so much more enjoyable. I truly enjoy 99% of my shifts. They are busy, I grew up working, my parents instilled work in me. As one of my childhood friends said to me recently when asking about why my 65+ year old mom who is by her standards FatFI still works 60-70 hours a week as an ED and ICU nurse (2 FT jobs), you guys love to work.

The main change I would make would be to try to spend more time with my kids. I make a major effort to be present with them, some of my non clinical ventures limit that time when added to clinical work. Other than that I would push harder to get out of nights/weekends.

I still enjoy work and my comp is well above EM avg which makes it easier to tolerate hospital admin incompetence.
 
Nah. I'd quit medicine. I want a 40x60 shop to rebuild engines. I want to be able to take my family on a few trips a year. Set them up to be good enough that they don't have to worry, but not so good that they can be useless... Nevermind. I want a lambo and a G6 and to try and spend the daily interest from my Scrooge McDuck coffers of money lol.
 
EctopicFetus said:
I used to think i would keep working in EM. Now I dont know. 15-ish years into this I dont know. That being said reaching coastFI/FI etc makes life and work so much more enjoyable. I truly enjoy 99% of my shifts. They are busy, I grew up working, my parents instilled work in me. As one of my childhood friends said to me recently when asking about why my 65+ year old mom who is by her standards FatFI still works 60-70 hours a week as an ED and ICU nurse (2 FT jobs), you guys love to work.

The main change I would make would be to try to spend more time with my kids. I make a major effort to be present with them, some of my non clinical ventures limit that time when added to clinical work. Other than that I would push harder to get out of nights/weekends.

I still enjoy work and my comp is well above EM avg which makes it easier to tolerate hospital admin incompetence.
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[QUOTE="]TrailRun, post: 23912255, member: 345944"I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal.[/QUOTE]

Did you know this meant a lot to you before going into EM? Routine, regular sleep schedule, and training in the AM were really important to me as a med student but I felt crazy at the time voicing that strong preference. It is/was such a strong preference that I scratched a ton of specialties off my list if they didn’t allow that.
 
What are we saying "average" hourly is these days?
 
EctopicFetus said:
I still enjoy work and my comp is well above EM avg which makes it easier to tolerate hospital admin incompetence.
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Reiterating the same emphasis @RustedFox made on your post, this is definitely massively important in terms of career longevity. I'm 6 yrs out right now and have a couple of large scale side work options that are semi-evolved. Those projects would 100% be my current job right now, were I not lucky enough to be in the same boat as you. As it is, overnights keep pushing me to get out (as I hate them more than I can articulate) but the money makes it hard to leave.
 
If I won the lottery and didn't have to work, I'd probably do some occasional VERY rare medical practice for free in a setting I couldn't get sued, volunteer to do some teaching for free, and spend all the rest of my days on the golf course.
 
sloh said:
[QUOTE="]TrailRun, post: 23912255, member: 345944"I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal.
Click to expand...

Did you know this meant a lot to you before going into EM? Routine, regular sleep schedule, and training in the AM were really important to me as a med student but I felt crazy at the time voicing that strong preference. It is/was such a strong preference that I scratched a ton of specialties off my list if they didn’t allow that.
[/QUOTE]

Kind of…. But where I went to school Med students weren’t allowed to do nights. And I bought into the lifestyle myth of EM
(“3 Shifts a week for 300k”). But I’m closer to 4 shifts a week for 250k, and as I get older the nights hit harder. And the more I learn about the risks of circadian disruption (CV disease, dementia, etc) the faster I want to get out. But there are nice parts of the job too.
 
cyanide12345678 said:
Seriously…how often do you water your garden. My BlackBerries and strawberries look rough. The mint and onions look terrible too. I’m failing at gardening.
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Almost daily for things like onions, basil, cilantro etc unless it rains. We do get a decent amount of rain in Houston. I also have some more low maintenance plants that only require a deep soaking maybe once a week, like my fig, olive and guava trees. I water usually early morning, which is the optimal time. Water at night and risk mold formation; water in the middle of the day, and much of that water might evaporate in the heat.

As for mint, will have to concur with @CoolDoc1729 - don't know why yours is struggling. Mint is a weed, and a damn tough one. I've seen this thing survive in the Saudi Arabian desert, and in the Canadian tundra. Even survived the frost we had in Houston last year. Not only is mint low maintenance, it will take over your lawn/flower bed if you're not careful. Love cutting me some mint leaves at night, which I throw in with my green tea.
 
bravotwozero said:
I’d stop working period.

I keep hearing people on this forum say ‘I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I retired or didn’t need to work anymore’.


Yeah, I am NOT that guy.

If you seriously can’t figure out what else you could do if not working, that tells me either that your job is your whole life, or you really suffer from a lack of imagination.

A good portion of my free time goes into exercise, picking up and dropping off my kids to school, doing some cooking, and growing my vegetable garden. That’s enough to just take up most of one’s day without working as it is.

If money were no object, I’d travel a lot more, on first class direct flights. Once the kids were grown, I’d do the snowbird thing in reverse. Have a summer home up north to escape the Texas heat from May to mid October, then come back.

Read. A lot more. Learn another language. There’s literally no shortage of other things I’ve been meaning to do that I couldn’t get around to because of time/financial constraints.
Click to expand...

I really, really miss patient care and some of my amazing colleagues. The idea of never seeing a patient again is more painful than I'd imagined. The idea that will be taken away permanently within a few months, more painful still.

But then I also look at how much baggage comes along with seeing patients- lawsuits, credentialing, overnights, weekends, hospital politics. For such a necessary, hard, and important job.

I guess I appreciate now how meaningful (if unappreciated) our jobs are. I also realize how screwed up medicine is that I'm simply opting out.
 
I'm not sure if I'd quit working in the ED with an infinite amount of money. It's pretty satisfying to help people doing something I'm well-trained to do. I already have a fair number of minions doing the less-fun bits of my job.

I could do with another 25%-30% reduction in shifts to miss a correspondingly lower fraction of family things. I'm already done with nights for the foreseeable future. I have enough diverse hobbies both personal and professional, I'm pretty close to doing whatever I want already.
 
cyanide12345678 said:
The show was alright. His podcast really dives into the psychology of money and how upbringing plays a huge role in how we view money.

The Netflix show was too basic for me. The podcast is actually making me really want to focus on quality of life and what needs to be done.
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What show? Whos the podcaster?
 
Heist said:
What show? Whos the podcaster?
Click to expand...

Netflix show is called ‘i will teach you to be rich’ - or something like that.

Ramit sethi is the host.

Podcast is named something similar.
 
I feel that I have hit the "Rich" level and any more money would only mean flying first class everywhere vs coach. When people say money doesn't make you happier, there is a level of truth to it but honestly I feel more at peace knowing that the family is taken care of. Less money disagreements. More giving. Nicer vacations like sand in the back yard vs walking a block to the boardwalk. I think what the saying means is if you are an unhappy person, having money doesn't make you happy.

I just hit 50 and essentially feel retired other than having teenagers to watch over. I work because I love my Job and the people I work with. If I could envision a dream job, it is essentially what I have. Vast majority of pts are hard working middle class who cares about their health in general. No Complex Medicare NH pts with no chance for improvement, pts who don't have an interest in their health, No psych holds, No police holds/clearance, no admin to fight, No CMS metrics to deal with.

The last vestige of being an EM doc was working overnight and in the FSER world, 24 hr shifts are typical. I have now started to essentially give up all my overnight parts and winding down to 6x12 hr day shifts/month. I think this is my sweet spot to still feel like an ER doc, still add value to the world, get out of the house, and still work on my own terms.

I am starting to take more vacations, longer vacations. Home all the time with the kids and lucky to have great relationships with them/wife. Schedule my shifts around my kids. Starting to take up golf. RE is on autopilot. EM work is on autopilot. Now dipping my toes into finance b/c its a passion I have. Thinking about teaching at my kids school. Starting to do a 6wk round of P90x next week.b

I have opportunities to buy into FSERs but just don't have the passion to go down that road again. More $$ just don't have the same motivation.

I am super fortunate to have pieces fall into place and even more fortunate to be at this spot just turning 50. I am now able to give back and share my knowledge with people around me.
 
emergentmd said:
I feel that I have hit the "Rich" level and any more money would only mean flying first class everywhere vs coach. When people say money doesn't make you happier, there is a level of truth to it but honestly I feel more at peace knowing that the family is taken care of. Less money disagreements. More giving. Nicer vacations like sand in the back yard vs walking a block to the boardwalk. I think what the saying means is if you are an unhappy person, having money doesn't make you happy.

I just hit 50 and essentially feel retired other than having teenagers to watch over. I work because I love my Job and the people I work with. If I could envision a dream job, it is essentially what I have. Vast majority of pts are hard working middle class who cares about their health in general. No Complex Medicare NH pts with no chance for improvement, pts who don't have an interest in their health, No psych holds, No police holds/clearance, no admin to fight, No CMS metrics to deal with.

The last vestige of being an EM doc was working overnight and in the FSER world, 24 hr shifts are typical. I have now started to essentially give up all my overnight parts and winding down to 6x12 hr day shifts/month. I think this is my sweet spot to still feel like an ER doc, still add value to the world, get out of the house, and still work on my own terms.

I am starting to take more vacations, longer vacations. Home all the time with the kids and lucky to have great relationships with them/wife. Schedule my shifts around my kids. Starting to take up golf. RE is on autopilot. EM work is on autopilot. Now dipping my toes into finance b/c its a passion I have. Thinking about teaching at my kids school. Starting to do a 6wk round of P90x next week.b

I have opportunities to buy into FSERs but just don't have the passion to go down that road again. More $$ just don't have the same motivation.

I am super fortunate to have pieces fall into place and even more fortunate to be at this spot just turning 50. I am now able to give back and share my knowledge with people around me.
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Perfect gig for EM, would have stayed if I had one like this. Nights have lost their appeal.
Congrats on everything else, and yes, you are right, exactly right on money and unhappiness.
 
xaelia said:
I'm not sure if I'd quit working in the ED with an infinite amount of money. It's pretty satisfying to help people doing something I'm well-trained to do. I already have a fair number of minions doing the less-fun bits of my job.

I could do with another 25%-30% reduction in shifts to miss a correspondingly lower fraction of family things. I'm already done with nights for the foreseeable future. I have enough diverse hobbies both personal and professional, I'm pretty close to doing whatever I want already.
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I think a lot of longevity in EM is whether a doc can find a gig where they can give up nights/late swings and not have to take on a higher proportion of weekends. Good on you for finding one.
 
TrailRun said:
Have also been watching that Netflix show by the podcast guy you mentioned. For me, ER would be sustainable with day shift only, OB in house, and not dealing with sick kids or my constant fear of pedi codes (although rare). But I can’t find that job. So thinking of a pain or palliative fellowship. I’m a routine oriented person, so to have a regular sleep schedule, exercise in the morning before work, etc. would be ideal. Rich life would include trips to Disney for the kids, Europe for the spouse, a nice house, and a safe neighborhood with a good school system, and saving for the future. Slowly getting there…
Click to expand...
I can handle pedi codes. I hate them. HATE THEM. They’re the worst things ever. But I trained for them and I can sleep well afterwards, wtvr the outcome, even if I maybe shed a tear on the way home.

But the constant barrage of “my 6 mo has had diarrhea since we changed his formula yesterday”, “my 4 yr old got a rash after everybody at school had a rash,” or “my 10 wk old spit up twice after feeding” makes me want to kill myself or at least find a different line of work.

Add in all the triage notes on the board about the “irritable” or “lethargic” baby and I have trouble keeping my sense of humor.
 
cyanide12345678 said:
Netflix show is called ‘i will teach you to be rich’ - or something like that.

Ramit sethi is the host.

Podcast is named something similar.
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Looked him up and saw that he got rich by...telling other people how to get rich. That's always suspicious, because it's akin to a pyramid scheme.
 
TeddyBoomBoom said:
I can handle pedi codes. I hate them. HATE THEM. They’re the worst things ever. But I trained for them and I can sleep well afterwards, wtvr the outcome, even if I maybe shed a tear on the way home.

But the constant barrage of “my 6 mo has had diarrhea since we changed his formula yesterday”, “my 4 yr old got a rash after everybody at school had a rash,” or “my 10 wk old spit up twice after feeding” makes me want to kill myself or at least find a different line of work.

Add in all the triage notes on the board about the “irritable” or “lethargic” baby and I have trouble keeping my sense of humor.
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Yeah, the hardest part of PedsEM is the second guessing of yourself on the well-appearing kids. Do I do a workup? I don't want to poke this kid who looks FINE, but there's a red flag word on the chart, so...

The ones who are moribund or have a facial laceration or a fracture? Got it. I son't like LP'ing 25 day olds, but at least I don't have to struggle with the decision. The 4 mo old, mostly vaccinated coming in with sniffles and a fever...is it in the >99% that need nothing but a swift discharge? Or is this the kid with early pneumococcal pneumonia who you could save with $10 of amoxicillin but will otherwise come back dead within 48 hours?

I can't count how many times I've wondered "maybe I should've just gotten labs on that kid? next time, I'm just gonna get labs" then I follow up on the kid and learn that my clinical impression was correct & the kid's fine.
 
Rekt said:
Not a chance.

Maybe 220/hr IC.
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Totally fair. I'm sure that figure is also being driven down by CMG interests over time as well. Either way, whenever I see someone saying that they make well above EM average nowadays (e.g. ectopic's comment), I assume they're in an SDG and making over 300/hr.
 
WilcoWorld said:
Looked him up and saw that he got rich by...telling other people how to get rich. That's always suspicious, because it's akin to a pyramid scheme.
Click to expand...

Well he doesn’t tell anything different from the norm - basic stuff. Invest a part of your income automatically. 3 fund portfolio. Broad low fee index funds. Control expenses etc. that’s really easy and basic stuff.

But the podcast actually i felt focused a lot on - ‘hey what do you really want to do with your life and what is the goal here’ - and sometimes working more, investing more, making more money isn’t necessarily the advice - it is more about how to spend and create the life that you really wish for.

And I created the thread to get people thinking about priorities. I’m definitely finding myself in a stage where money isn’t everything. I have money. But now I’m looking to optimize life for fulfillment and happiness and trying to get a conversation on the topic started.
 
bravotwozero said:
Mint is a weed, and a damn tough one. I've seen this thing survive in the Saudi Arabian desert, and in the Canadian tundra. Even survived the frost we had in Houston last year. Not only is mint low maintenance, it will take over your lawn/flower bed if you're not careful. Love cutting me some mint leaves at night, which I throw in with my green tea.
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One of my friends had an extremely obnoxious neighbor while she was in college. She simply ignored it until she moved out after graduation, at which time she apparently seeded all of the neighbors planter boxes with mint.
 
miacomet said:
I think a lot of longevity in EM is whether a doc can find a gig where they can give up nights/late swings and not have to take on a higher proportion of weekends. Good on you for finding one.
Click to expand...

I only work nights and most of my shifts are on the weekends so I can be available administratively during the week (all by my choice, I get to make my own schedule). I've tried working days, I can't do it. The ED is so loud and there is so many people. I can't concentrate in that setting. I'm a nightowl anyways. Now, I realize I don't work the same number of shifts as a full-time non-academic, so maybe working way more nights would kill me. But IDK, I just have never ever been able to tolerate day shifts.
 
bravotwozero said:
As for mint, will have to concur with @CoolDoc1729 - don't know why yours is struggling. Mint is a weed, and a damn tough one. I've seen this thing survive in the Saudi Arabian desert, and in the Canadian tundra. Even survived the frost we had in Houston last year. Not only is mint low maintenance, it will take over your lawn/flower bed if you're not careful. Love cutting me some mint leaves at night, which I throw in with my green tea.
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True story: Western New York, so not usually arid (although today will likely hit a record high, if it hasn't already). We have some mint wild, because we can smell it, but it's kept in check by the thyme. That blew off a plant, and, boy howdy, just grabbed on. There is also wild garlic.

The most interesting, thing, though, is the lavender survived the winter, and is regrowing right now!

One of the most magical things is when the sedum is in bloom, and there is the low hum of a bunch of bees at once pollinating. It's reminiscent of "Atmospheres", by György Ligeti.
 
TrailRun said:
Did you know this meant a lot to you before going into EM? Routine, regular sleep schedule, and training in the AM were really important to me as a med student but I felt crazy at the time voicing that strong preference. It is/was such a strong preference that I scratched a ton of specialties off my list if they didn’t allow that.
Click to expand...

Kind of…. But where I went to school Med students weren’t allowed to do nights. And I bought into the lifestyle myth of EM
(“3 Shifts a week for 300k”). But I’m closer to 4 shifts a week for 250k, and as I get older the nights hit harder. And the more I learn about the risks of circadian disruption (CV disease, dementia, etc) the faster I want to get out. But there are nice parts of the job too.[/QUOTE]Sounds like you're getting ripped off.
 
TeddyBoomBoom said:
I can handle pedi codes. I hate them. HATE THEM. They’re the worst things ever. But I trained for them and I can sleep well afterwards, wtvr the outcome, even if I maybe shed a tear on the way home.

But the constant barrage of “my 6 mo has had diarrhea since we changed his formula yesterday”, “my 4 yr old got a rash after everybody at school had a rash,” or “my 10 wk old spit up twice after feeding” makes me want to kill myself or at least find a different line of work.

Add in all the triage notes on the board about the “irritable” or “lethargic” baby and I have trouble keeping my sense of humor.
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Nah, I'll see healthy kids all day long to avoid a peds code.

But yes, I'll put on my big boy pants when the peds code rolls in. I might like a nice relaxing shift, but I realize that I trained for the bad things.
 
My "rich life" is my life now. Not because my life is perfect. It's not. And not because there are things I want that I don't have. There are. But it's because when I was younger, I longed for the independence and financial security I only now have. And I know that when I'm elderly, I'll crave the health and (relative) youth I still have, while being middle age. I have my health. My family is healthy. My kids have turned out great (so far, knock on wood). And I'm married to someone who's really good for me. Some days I think, "If I died today, I'll die a very happy man. I have everything man could want." So why crave more? Sometimes, it makes sense to be supremely grateful for everything you do have and for things that have gone right, and for things that could have been wrong, that didn't. It's a blessing to even be able to take a breathe in this mysterious, complex, and expansive universe that we find ourselves in. I haven't always felt this way. I won't always feel this way. So, it makes sense to appreciate now, for what it is.
 
Birdstrike said:
My "rich life" is my life now. Not because my life is perfect. It's not. And not because there are things I want that I don't have. There are. But it's because when I was younger, I longed for the independence and financial security I only now have. And I know that when I'm elderly, I'll crave the health and (relative) youth I still have, while being middle age. I have my health. My family is healthy. My kids have turned out great (so far, knock on wood). And I'm married to someone who's really good for me. Some days I think, "If I died today, I'll die a very happy man. I have everything man could want." So why crave more? Sometimes, it makes sense to be supremely grateful for everything you do have and for things that have gone right, and for things that could have been wrong, that didn't. It's a blessing to even be able to take a breathe in this mysterious, complex, and expansive universe that we find ourselves in. I haven't always felt this way. I won't always feel this way. So, it makes sense to appreciate now, for what it is.
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