By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at
...so that we can live happily.
There's a lot of retired people where I live.
It's just a function of what people choose to do when they've spent their life working, and then finally, once they have the means to, choosing a lifestyle they'd always dreamed of.
Lots of sunshine, temperate climate, crashing waves, white sandy beaches. We homo sapiens flock to it. And so it's newly weds and "nearly deads".
What it means for me is when walking on the beach I will often bump into neighbours (picking on the retired ones here), and sometimes we'll walk together.
Reflecting on the conversations, what's striking is how we accommodate in our minds for the mistakes we've made.
This makes sense because regret is a bitter pill and makes you a miserable person. Nobody likes that. Hands up who wants to hang around a miserable old fart who's always harping on about how life screwed him over?
Also it's a form or protecting our own self esteem and not recognising our failures.
As we get older, however, it seems clear to me that we become more honest with ourselves and with others. We recognise those failures, release them, and are free to talk about them. Ego isn't something that features as much as we age.
This is, I'm going to guess, pretty much what it looks like for average people.
But we don't want to be average. That'd suck!
Our task, therefore, is to have it look more like this:
Get the ego stuff over with as fast as possible... or better still, never get it at all.
Oh, and ego and confidence are NOT the same thing. Not by a long shot!
I've much to learn before they put me in a box or roast me in an oven, but here's some things I've been thinking about as I find myself unbelievably at middle age. How the hell did that happen?
- Say NO more often. Most of everything out there is a waste of your time. Learn to check it fast. I shared some more personal thoughts on this a while ago.
- Leverage the skills and talents of those who have what you haven't. Rambo works for movies, not so much in real life.
- Don't beat dead horses. People rarely change and there are 7 billion of them out there. Don't waste your time with those who're not helping you.
- And coupled with the last one, make sure you help those you can.
- You've one life. Live it like you mean it. This means finding your passion. If you can make a living out of it great. If not (because let's face it, it can be hard), make sure you dedicate enough time to it to ensure contentment.
- Decimate, kill, and annihilate distractions: TV, video games, social media isht, conversations with morons. Treat them as your enemy. The time people spend on absolutely worthless crap is criminal.
- Three really important ones: read, read, and read.
- Take time to stop and just think. Every day. An absolute minimum of 30 min. An hour is preferable.
And then on investing...
I wrote an article on the easy and uncomplicated way to get rich that covers the basics. Foundational stuff, if you will. At least it's been that way for me but hey, what do I know?
Some other thoughts:
- I'd position size smaller than I first did. But...
- I'd also take more risks. Definitely.
- I'd let my profits run and re-allocate so that I could psychologically do this.
- I'd seek help earlier on things I don't know or understand. Battling along being macho about it is idiotic.
- Get rid of cocky. The market doesn't give a flying hoot about you or your opinions. Be humble.
- When you're right, press the accelerator.
And if I can get all this right, not only do I get to live a wonderful nourishing life. I get to die happy.
I'd love any feedback. Let me know what I'm missing as I'm sure I've missed a lot.
Please use the comments section here, so the feedback is organised under the article. But if you'd rather reply by email, that's fine too. I'm here.
- Chris
“There is no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live this life well and naturally.” ― Michel de Montaigne
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Liked this article? Then you'll probably like my other missives on
this topic as well. Go here to access them (free, of course).
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Comments
"Decimate, kill, and annihilate distractions: TV, video games, social media SHIT, conversations with morons. Treat them as your enemy. The time people spend on absolutely worthless crap is criminal. "
Excellent points at ANY age.
But he simply ignores the JQ. How can your life have meaning or purpose if you know that there is a group of people near to achieving success at genociding your people, your culture and destroying the future of your grand children.
In reply to "Decimate, kill, and… by Donate Moar
As supremely important as the JQ is, it's not the focus of every topic.
In reply to But he simply ignores the JQ… by Heros
Do you have grandchildren? If you did you might realize that few things are as important as the world they will inherit, and that necessarily also revolves around their grandchildren.
There is nothing that threatens the future of my grandchildren more than the JQ. All the wars, all the poverty, all the depravity emanate from this one festering, parasitical boil on civilizations ass. And it has become gangrenous. The author, like yourself, would have us ignore this and focus on how to die happily.
A great uncle of mine said to me years ago, on his cabin cruiser, "the one who has the most toys when he dies, wins".
I see boomers and X'ers and Millenials obsessing over travel, it is a major status symbol. So when you are on deaths bed, and your grand children never had a chance on life, or are suffering, will you look back on your "happy" life and cherish those memories of travel?
In reply to As supremely important as… by heretical
Re: travel.
OH so strongly agree.
In my youth I made it a point to rule out any young woman obsessed with travel, I quit dating them straightaway.
There can be no stable life, or future, with any human being willing to run up sky-high credit card balances for big-ticket “excitement,” and who possess an all-consuming need to be “fulfilled.”
You make a great point.
In reply to Do you have grand children? … by Heros
What a load of crap. Travellers are amongst some of the most interesting people one could hope to meet!! A mind that is hungry for new horizons and experiences is so much more alive and vital.
You however should slip into your favourite slippers and get comfortable in your favourite chair...now get busy getting old you boring old fart!!
In reply to Re: travel… by Lost in translation
Travellers vainly pursue some illusion of knowledge and sophistication by striving to be "the most interesting people one could hope to meet". My experience is that the majority are shallow, selfish and unhappy, and more importantly never satisfied.
This vague mirage of illusive happiness has been planted in their brains over multiple generations in order to prevent the goyim from getting down to the really important business of creating a stable, prosperous and sustainable environment for the infinitely successive generations of their offspring.
The author never even mentions children, or the stable marriage required for loving and nourishing home environment.
In reply to What a load of crap… by Pinot-Noir
“My experience is that the majority are shallow, selfish and unhappy, and more importantly never satisfied.”
Mine, also.
In reply to Travellers vainly pursue… by Heros
Eat more veggies also.
You'll be happier in the long run.
In reply to “My experience is that the… by Lost in translation
Soylent Euthanasia Centre
Special birthday discount offer.
Family rates.
First Class seats available, no waiting.
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In reply to Eat more veggies also… by Son of Loki
Veggies to spare from the local farmer’s market, cooked at home.
Thanks for caring, I really appreciate your following me on ZH.
In reply to Eat more veggies also… by Son of Loki
"Love people, use things. The opposite never works."
Joshua Fields Millburn
In reply to Eat more veggies also… by Son of Loki
"The author never even mentions children, or the stable marriage required for loving and nourishing home environment."
Bringing children into the world we are becoming is akin to a sin. I couldn't think of a worse way to mistreat someone.
In reply to Travellers vainly pursue… by Heros
I'm not sure if you can bring joos into this one, it is probably a DNA thing!!
You mention happiness. The majority of travellers that I know are not the "tie dye" hippies or gap year students, most were expeditioneers, journos, people working for multinational companies or NGOs. Their levels of exposure to the realities of living in 2nd or 3rd world countries usually gauranteed they would say a massive "Thank you!" everytime they drank tap water, they would say "Thank you!" for their access to Health services that are not only efficient but generally close...education, availability of food, etc etc!!!
You want me to go on??
I worked away for many years in less than desirable places, and when I returned I could not believe how miserable and generally how mind fucked that much of the western world is. People rugurgitating just the latest slew of soundbytes they had gleaned from whatever msm outlet they had tuned into.People unaware of their luck at being born into this world and not the world of the others. Most people live their lives in an eternal loop that has been created by a system that works to enslave them, condemned to a life of servitude and a fiscal debt that can never be repayed!! Is that your idea of happiness??
Do your kids get the joy out of life like you wish them too?? or do they spend that little bit too long in front of Facebook or the tv?? Where did that time go??
How does that meme go? "We are the most ignorant, best informed people that have ever existed."
And as for the author? I am from a forces family. By the time I was ten I had already lived on two continents and had travelled to a couple more. My daughter is the same and the family is solid, loving and stable!!
Please expand on your somewhat limited idea of goy happiness.
In reply to Travellers vainly pursue… by Heros
In other words coastal elites. Liberals, multiculturalists, warmists, communists, feminists, queers, affirmative action racist minorities and who knows what else, all seeking the "happiness" that Weinstein and the other jews in hollywood keep dangling under their noses.
Just as a comparison, I would far rather help a South African Boer protect his heritage on his farm than "travel" as a pampered jew puppet with the coastal elites.
In reply to I'm not sure if you can… by Pinot-Noir
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
-F.N.
In reply to "most were expeditioneers,… by Heros
Ha ha, good chatting to you Hero, I actually think that I agree that we're both singing off the same hymn sheet. I despise the Hollywood propaganda and the whole joo narrative that is forced down people's throats. I have met those 'coastal elites' that you talk of (tho'it's the first time I have heard this expression), but I am not referring to them. Think more oil guys, gold prospecters, hard nosed independant journo's, mercs, business types...could not have been further from your description, but I take your point.
Me, I was project feasibility/construction and a few other less salubrious roles. You?
In reply to "most were expeditioneers,… by Heros
35 years in IT. Development, databases, VLDB.
I have lived in 5 countries on 2 continents and speak several languages, two fluently. I am a US expat.
In reply to Ha ha, good chatting to you… by Pinot-Noir
If you've never travelled extensively, or at the least, lived some degree away from your upbringing, you would not make that general statement.
As far as "the author never mentions" bit, I would assume any plant member of the vegetative species could make the same case if it were able to speak.
Try expanding your consciousness a skosh -
In reply to Travellers vainly pursue… by Heros
...or they would be the bad weeds growing up on the wrong side of the track!!! ;-)
In reply to If you've never travelled… by algol_dog
Find a good driver and mount a .50 cal on a Toyota and get busy.
Or shut the fuck up.
In reply to Do you have grand children? … by Heros
He he he ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwaat-zT_Ks
In reply to Find a good driver and mount… by shovelhead
I am sure alphabet agencies are salivating over the prospect of using this toy on the Deplorables who have the audacity to not take a knee when they arrive. A road block and a Molotov cocktail would appear to be an appropriate counter measure.
In reply to He he he … by squ33zeb1nd
Your point being that if I don't agree that everyone should pursue some kind of athiest/new age/buddist mantra of the meaning of happiness in life, that I think that fulfillment and purpose can only be through improving the family, race, and the culture, that I am therefore obligated to pull a Stephen Paddock.
Sounds like jew logic to me. More evidence of your jewishness is the way you resort to vile language that defames the act of procreation in order to smear me without addressing my argument.
In reply to Find a good driver and mount… by shovelhead
The only way to travel is if your employer or business pays for it. Destination Weddings are definitely a form of stupidity---use the money for buying a house or solid stocks
In reply to Do you have grand children? … by Heros
A lot of millenials and gen-x'ers love to slam baby boomers for the ruination of everything through their greed and narcisism.
I have seen each successive nephew and niece (I have several) going through expensive and indulgent weddings at fancy hotels, resorts, etc.
A wedding is about something far more important than just another excuse to waste daddy's money throwing a party.
In reply to The only way to travel is if… by geno-econ
Baby boomers didn't ruin sh$t...i'm 45 btw. Lazy ass, always excuses millennials.
In reply to A lot of millenials and gen… by Heros
Fortunately I raised my children well and neither of them are dependent on what they will inherit from us to survive.
I believe travel is beneficial in many ways. I spent 6 weeks walking in Spain with just a backpack and had many memorable interactions with people. Some will be lifelong friendships. This would have been a completely different experience if I just sat on a tour bus. Immersing oneself in a culture vs being a tourist changes ones perspective.
Buying junk ( toys?) that just ends up in landfills seems pointless to me and I can't see how it helps the future generations. Happiness comes from within.
Miffed
In reply to Do you have grand children? … by Heros
"You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind, until now... Until now, you have become the very thing you seek to destroy."
In reply to But he simply ignores the JQ… by Heros
Heroes, there are times in life when we must change direction, fast and unexpectedly, due to some new and dangerous threat. The meaning and purpose you had originally envisioned may have to change in the face of this new threat. Circumstance has made it impossible to get that meaning and purpose you had in mind. So, that should now be replaced with resolve. Resolve to NOT let this happen without a major battle.
Your meaning and purpose will become clear, and you won't have to search for them. They'll come to you.
In reply to But he simply ignores the JQ… by Heros
does that include doom blog porn like ZH?
In reply to "Decimate, kill, and… by Donate Moar
Spectator sports should be near the top of this list. Watching sports is no different than watching porn. You are NOT DOING ANYTHING. You are just watching somebody else have a good time.
In reply to "Decimate, kill, and… by Donate Moar
A most important lesson for a happy life is to appreciate what we have. Instead of continually hankering after the things we don't.
Happiness is another yid psyop played on stupid goyim. The entire (((media))) pushes this quest for happiness and people have lost sight of the purpose of their existence.
Hint: It has nothing to do with how many cars, flatscreens, boats, or fancy vacations you manage to check off of your bucket list before you die.
In reply to A most important lesson for… by heretical
Only one answer really,
www.ExploreChristianity.com
In reply to A most important lesson for… by heretical
Every religion claims to be THE ONE. They are all wrong.
In reply to Only one answer really,… by Counterfiat
God, I wish I'd read this a few decades earlier..
I've had WAY too many conversations with morons.
And I’ve gotten pulled into projects and activities by people who scarcely knew me and cared not at all. I was just a stone to step on as they went wherever their dysfunctional bum so directed them.
Wish I had read it, too. Sooo many wasted hours, days, weeks, years... and for what?
Nothing...
In reply to God, I wish I'd read this a… by One of these i…
Haha.
So you had a buddy who wanted to hand dig a swimming pool too?
Pro tip: A simple "Fuck off" works wonders.
In reply to And I’ve gotten pulled into… by Lost in translation
Truth ^
Wish I’d wised up 30 years ago...
In reply to Haha… by shovelhead
It is called social capital. When people continually try to get more out than what they are willing to put into whatever it is they are socially involved with, then society falls apart. This is exactly what the jews are trying to accomplish by forcing every western country to accept unrestrained immigration from lands with different cultures, lower intelligence, and in this case, non-existent social capital.
Some people like to claim that the democrats/progressives/socialists want this unrestrained immigration so they can have guaranteed voter majorities. The truth is that these majorities lie far further off in the horizon than any politician is capable of thinking.
These invaders are being deliberately brought in to disrupt and destroy social capital. To weaken and divide western society.
So when you tell your neighbors to go take a hike whenever they need help then you are deleting social capital.
Now if the neighbor had a history of neglecting or minimizing his obligations to whatever social group he belongs to, then that is another story.
In reply to Haha… by shovelhead
Sigh. Look up the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and the subsequent Eight Fold Path. This stuff has been around for thousands of years.
But no one reads anymore.
Does one of those paths take you to a hand made Ice Cream store?
In reply to Sigh. Look up the Buddha's… by Doctor Faustus
Oh many do--the number of books on the topic in English now vs say, the 70s is astounding.
In reply to Sigh. Look up the Buddha's… by Doctor Faustus
In the '70's you had to get them from a bald guy with stripes on his face at the airport.
In reply to Oh many do--the number of… by Bastiat
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”
Lao Tzu
(Saw it first here on ZH)
Most of us here will die happily if we attain knowledge and wisdom.
Money is an abstract form of happiness, whoever has lost his inner happiness will be entirely devoted to money.
My grandfather started an accounting firm that is still around after 60 years. He often said that the way to happiness is dying without a penny to pass along.
I think that for me the future is more about maintaining a lifestyle and occupation where I want to work til the day I die, rather than aiming for "retirement". Especially since I can work remotely and have a nationwide customer base, I would love to sell my place and get back to renting a different place every few years, but this time around we can afford to rent anywhere in the states rather than back when we were broke and immobile. I'd like to do more travel and vacation at will for at least a few weeks out of the year, which is more than I have been capable of doing the past few years while getting established. I want to experience the world while being productive and creating value for people and I would die happy if I had to stay active to maintain that lifestyle.
a narcissist always worries about how it feels to them, how happy, how enlightened,how much do i have, did i acquire enough bucket list items?? ..wipe shit on the buddha's nose..the minds focus is always on the person it contains.
Conax :What is good in life? To crush your enemies, see them flee before you, and hear the lamentations of the widows.
That was Ghengis Khan.
In reply to Conax :What is good in life?… by jSixPack
Money can't buy love. It can rent something awfully damn close.
Pagination