How have your views on life changed with each decade lived?
Posted by BumblingBarefoot@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 39 comments
This might be a "different" topic for this subReddit, but I tend to think that this group is very open minded and enlightened, and usually very self reflective. So I'd love to hear how you have evolved as a person, and as you reflect, work GenX culture (however you interpret it) into the reply as you see fit.
RemotePossibility399@reddit
I was more drawn to libertarian/deregulation type politics. I've figured out that trickle down doesn't work and libertarianism is as stupid as communism and doesn't work in the real world. And for the same reasons (there are just enough assholes to screw it up).
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Salsashark_21@reddit
I was a pretty typical straight white male who graduated high school in the mid-90s. I did and said a lot of things that I now recognize were wrong and hurtful to others, but I didn’t understand it at the time. Just trying to be a better person now. I was also completely apolitical until Bush and the Iraq War, and that send me down a different path. Pretty active now
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Joe-_-Momma-@reddit
99% of the sheople are mentally challenged.
I have had this option my whole life.
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QuarrieMcQuarrie@reddit
I'm still the libertarian leftie I've always been. I am kinder though, I try hard to be kinder- learned this from my husband who is the kindest person I've ever met.
I'm still that kid who gets very upset at the fact that wildlife bears the brunt of our stupidity. When I was little I'd cry myself to sleep worrying about animals and nuclear war. Now I just get angry about climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Not helped by being a biologist/ecologist.
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Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
I think that my ideals and my worldview still have a lot in common with the ideas I had in the 1980s and 1990s.
But the world around me changed a lot (society, politics, globalisation, threats) so I recognize less and less of my beliefs and principles around me.
Looking at it from a European perspective, I sometimes think that we were the last generation which was shaped (through stories of our parents and grandparents) by the horrors of the 20th century.
ArcanumAntares@reddit
Kill me 30 years ago.
BumblingBarefoot@reddit (OP)
The longer I live, the more I realize that I've been pretty much the same person in every decade. I've learned a lot of lessons along the way, and I've had a bunch of great memories as well as regrets, but the core software running in my brain seems quite similar to the software that was running in there as a teenager.
I'm still generally happy, yet I'm still on my lifelong quest to find myself. In many ways, I still have that "teen angst" you hear about, but it's just directed toward other things. The angst of "What am I going to do when I grow up?" has been replaced with "What am I going to do when I retire?" I still want to meet new people, experience new things, and push the envelope (within reason). I'm just as attracted to my wife as I was when we met 30 years ago. Often, I feel like that same kid, but with an older face. My dad says the same thing about himself, so maybe that feeling will never end.
I do hold a lot of regret for never getting "good" at much. Every time I see a 10-year-old kid playing the piano like a concert pianist, I regret not taking the time to get that good at anything. It's humbling when you see a kid who has mastered something in a few years more than you have ever mastered ANYTHING in 50.
reachers_toothbrush@reddit
I'm still teenage me at my core, although I have become a lot less...forgiving of others for their shortcomings. To quote John Hammond in Jurassic Park "I don't blame people for their mistakes, but I do expect that they pay for them". I've become an ardent believer in action=consequence.
kittyshakedown@reddit
It will all work out, the world goes on and all that.
I’m low key AF now. I wish I didn’t spend so much time fretting about the future. It feels so dumb.
I hardly get legit angry anymore. Not even frustrated or perturbed. Cranky, yes.
I do like to stay home as much as possible. That helps.
Better_Resort1171@reddit
Yes. I'm injesting my 1st Shrooms as I write this
Wouldn't have even considered it years ago.
If I go off in an hr, you'll understand
bowlgar@reddit
It’s 3 hours later. Anything to report?
Ok_Inflation_6992@reddit
More cynical about the world overall in my 50's but that's about it.
IHadTacosYesterday@reddit
All I'm going to say is that I was a mostly happy person till about 46. I'm currently 55. The last 9 years have been dogshit.
I don't anticipate anything getting better.
I honestly think that the vast majority of people above the age of 50 that say they're really enjoying their life are just self-gaslighting. They're trying to "fake it till you make it".
If I just pretend that everything is great, maybe eventually it will be great?
Maybe 3 people out of 100 are legitimately happy post 50. MAYBE
Nervous-Rooster7760@reddit
Sorry you had a rough time but I don’t think that is true. Most people I know in 50s are happy with how they are living. Most are also divorced and some are remarried. Getting divorced was one of best things my ex and I did outside of the kids. We are both happier and more fulfilled so I glad many of my generation did not feel bound to stay just because you are “supposed to”.
IHadTacosYesterday@reddit
I think a lot of people are just scared to death of admitting that life is dogshit. Because where do you go from there? There's nowhere to go. So, instead of admitting to themselves that life is dogshit, they'll do anything else that they can possibly do besides that.
Basically just a lack of mental fortitude.
It's like drug addicts that are afraid to admit that they have a problem. Because if they admit they have a problem, then they have to do something about it. If they continue to pretend that they don't have a problem, then can usually forget about how their feeling after awhile and get distracted by something else.
I'm the type of person that refuses to lie to myself no matter how bad the reality is. I'd rather just confront the really bad shit and sit in it if I have to. Marinate in it, if I have to. The good news, is that it takes away the sting of it. I still have the problem, it doesn't go away, but the sting is way reduced.
I think I will fare much better than a person who's absolutely forced to confront how shitty their life is, but they've been lying to themselves about it for years.
These are the people that end up doing self-deletion, because they can't handle being in that uncomfortable state.
MaximumJones@reddit
Nope, this is definitely a YOU issue. Plenty of people are happy.
Get off Reddit and meet some of them. It can change your life.
IHadTacosYesterday@reddit
insert Will Ferrell, I don't believe you gif
SamWhittemore75@reddit
If you have your health, you have everything.
Nervous-Rooster7760@reddit
I am really enjoying my 50s. I think it is now that I am older the change this decade brings is exciting versus scary. Empty nest. I love it. I always like when kids are around but after decades focusing on what others need I allow myself to be selfish with my time and focus on me.
This is last full decade of work. I plan retire in early 60s. At 55 this year I have less than a decade left which makes me very happy.
The empty nest allowed me to focus on my health. I’m now in best shape and health in 20 years.
I moved into what I plan to be my last home end of last year. I feel at home and at peace for first time in a long time. That sense of here until the “home” is very freeing.
CDN_Gunner@reddit
Yes. I've learned not to let things bother me as much. I try to keep an even keel. I try to take other people's perspectives into account more. Not because I want them to like me, or that I want to please them - I just want to understand.
Life is too short to worry, or be upset all the time.
Restlessfibre@reddit
A lot of hard lined beliefs in my late teens and 20's have given way to the gray nuances of experience. One thing that hasn't changed is being a lefty. I saw the political system for what it was pretty early and could see the trajectory of how we got to our current toxicity through the decades. I've never understood why it seemed obvious to me but not others.
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IowaAJS@reddit
I've moved further left the older I get.
johninfla52@reddit
Me too. As I realized the right was playing me. Late eighties early nineties I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh. Then he made some crazy comments about something I knew very well and I began to think , well what else that he says is bullshit..... The slide to the left had begun.
IowaAJS@reddit
I'm glad some of us are getting older *and* wiser.
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MaximumJones@reddit
My 50s have been the greatest time of my life so far.
Everything before that prepared me to appreciate this decade.
OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit
0-9: Pure joy, wonder, and curiosity.
10-19: Energetic, optimistic, and hopeful.
20-29: Becoming more jaded, cynical, and outspoken.
30-39: Regaining hope, seizing the day, enjoying life.
40-49: Becoming hopeless, pessimistic, apathetic, withdrawn.
Diocletion-Jones@reddit
I have realised that a lot of my views were never fixed beliefs. They were shaped by whatever stage of life I was in. When I was a single guy in my 20s I took risks without thinking twice. If I wanted something I bought it. If a choice went wrong it only affected me, so it never felt serious. In my 30s and 40s everything shifted. I was married with kids and the stakes were higher. The same risks that once felt exciting suddenly looked irresponsible because other people depended on me. My decisions were shaped by stability, routine and making sure the family had what they needed. I was not thinking about myself as much as I was thinking about being reliable. Now that I am in my mid fifties the calculation has changed again. I think about old age and long term security in a way I never did before. I am making investment decisions today that younger me would have laughed at. Back then I would have bought something I wanted without hesitation. Now I look at the same purchase and think that the money is better used for retirement.
I have even noticed the shift when I watch old TV shows and films. Scenes that once felt adventurous or romantic now look reckless or naive. Characters I admired when I was young seem impulsive. Characters I ignored now make sense because they are the ones dealing with responsibility. My perspective changed because my life changed. A good example is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. When I was younger I thought Ferris was the hero. He was clever, confident and always one step ahead. Watching it now I find myself sympathising with Cameron. He is anxious, cautious and overwhelmed and being older now I understand exactly why. He is the one carrying the weight of consequences while Ferris treats the whole day like a game. The film has not changed but the way I see it has because I finally understand the character who was dealing with pressure.
brushfuse@reddit
My opinion of other peoples’ judgement and basic human decency has declined a great deal. Cable news, social media, a general lack of education, curiosity or intelligence. Who knows why the populace are happy to follow the herd, rather than challenging the status quo. It’s clearly not in an average person’s interest to be manipulated and gaslighted into believing they should pay for a Monarch’s palace, instead of putting food on their family’s plates.
UrsaMajor7th@reddit
If they don't change, you're not growing.
Far_Put8236@reddit
80's - naive and happy.
90's - a little confused and angry, then happier as I found my career path;
00's - anxious about the beginning of career; getting married; starting a family;
10's - too busy raising a family and working my ass off to worry about much else;
20's - settling in to late middle age and looking forward to retirement and getting older, slowly. Focusing on mental and physical health. Taking care of parents. Also, a little angry at the direction of our country and technology but not obsessive. Letting things go a bit easier knowing that this too shall pass.
Jmast7@reddit
I think just recently my mindset changed. For years all I thought about was the future - preparing for retirement, kids college, what life was going to look like once we saved enough and had time to ourselves.
Since I turned 50 it’s been more about enjoying each and every day that I am healthy and active. I have a great job, wonderful family and friends and enough money to do what I want to do. Time to stop thinking about the future and simply enjoy the present.