Is this what you imagined?

OldNotWIse · 15-10-2015 12:06PM #1

We all dream of what we will be "when we grow up" . I found a list of goals that I wanted to achieve before I was 23...because when I was 12, that seemed like a decent enough age. I was to be married at 21, have my first child at 22. I was also going to be a doctor, have my own house, have a house built onto the side of mine for my parents (how insulting to my still able bodied folks!). I was also going to set up an animal sanctuary by the time I was 30, funded no doubt from my doctor's salary and the riches of the man I married when I was 21

Suffice to say that aside from a non-funded near sanctuary of 11 cats, the rest has....well, gone to the dogs.

Anyone else deviate from their plans or like me, spectacularly abandon them?

Is your life anything like you imagined?

The Backwards Man · 15-10-2015 12:10PM

I imagined being retired by the time I was forty and being a well-heeled playboy on the international scene.

22 months to go.

15-10-2015 12:12PM

Never imagined I'd end up with the woman who is now my wife. Met her at 12, she was way out of my league as a teenager, kinda wore her down.

Got that one right.

The rest is less than ideal mind you!

discus · 15-10-2015 12:32PM

Wanted to be married with kids, with a house by 25.

Nearly 30, a bitter ex-squaddie, back in uni in the UK and single. It's probably someones dream but it's not mine!

McTigs · 15-10-2015 12:36PM

i'm 41 now and absolutely nothing has gone to plan..... because there was no plan.

i'm in a very good place mind, can't believe my luck

OldNotWIse · 15-10-2015 12:39PM

discus wrote: »

Wanted to be married with kids, with a house by 25.

Nearly 30, a bitter ex-squaddie, back in uni in the UK and single. It's probably someones dream but it's not mine!

the evasion_kid · 15-10-2015 12:39PM

Nope,still a bit of a vagabond, it has its perks though.

mahoganygas · 15-10-2015 12:40PM

I wanted to grow up and become a Policeman.

Glad it didn't work out that way.

Just look at how Gardaí are treated in this country.

discus · 15-10-2015 12:40PM

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Ok ok it's not all that bad, I'm putting some of my life experience to good use :pac:

fizzypish · 15-10-2015 12:40PM

Grind my way through college and gain some experience in my field. Achieved this and am not sure I actually like it now. My new goal is to listen to all bill burr related podcasts. When I accomplish this I will repeatedly smash my face into my monitor until a new life plan materializes or I pass out.

Duggy747 · 15-10-2015 12:41PM

Yea, I'm nowhere near where I wanted or imagined to be in life.

Sometimes I wish things could've worked out better but then I quickly remember had I not gone down certain paths then I wouldn't have made some great friends and probably not end up getting married to someone I never thought I would've ended up with who I've had great years with.................plus, I own a load of animals which I never saw coming.

I did manage to get myself an arcade machine a few years back which was always on the agenda since I was a kid, so I have that box ticked at least :pac:

the evasion_kid · 15-10-2015 12:46PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Yea, I'm nowhere near where I wanted or imagined to be in life.

Sometimes I wish things could've worked out better but then I quickly remember had I not gone down certain paths then I wouldn't have made some great friends and probably not end up getting married to someone I never thought I would've ended up with who I've had great years with.................plus, I own a load of animals which I never saw coming.

I did manage to get myself an arcade machine a few years back which was always on the agenda since I was a kid, so I have that box ticked at least :pac:

Should have just downloaded the MAME emulator...all the old arcade classics .....life sorted

Medusa22 · 15-10-2015 12:47PM

I think if I'd known at 12 years old what my life was going to be like...well I think I would have just thrown myself off a building to be honest. I didn't know that I'd get ill, that I'd be diagnosed with a life threatening illness that I'd actually had from birth, that my teenage years would be as difficult and as trying as they were for a variety of reasons.

I'm glad that I didn't throw myself off that building though, because even though my life is nothing like I would have imagined, or planned, it worked out so well in its own way, and is so much better than my 15 year old self ever could have imagined.

I doubt that I thought that I'd have a 1.1 degree and I'd be married (civil partnership) to an incredibly endearing grumpy German woman who makes me laugh every day, and I'd be living in an apartment with her and my beloved cat.

Maybe I don't have the career that I want yet (or any career for that matter), and my health is something that I have to battle with regularly, and there are so many things that I thought I'd be able to do by now (like have learned how to drive), but I know that I'll get there, in my own time.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 15-10-2015 12:49PM

Never knew what I wanted to as a child and teen, completed a bullsh1t Arts degree after school and then further education which led me into working in family business.

Not really happy though and would consider switching careers entirely. Don't want to hit 30 and still have regrets.

Paramite Pie · 15-10-2015 12:50PM

I'm 28 and I figured I'd be a well paid rich person by now -- in what field you ask? Had a different dream job each week.:pac:

There's still the plan of writing a novel which was always a plan C or D. And people rarely get a novel published before their 30s based on all the research. So I can take my time with that and procrastinate some more.:D

Duggy747 · 15-10-2015 12:56PM

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Should have just downloaded the MAME emulator...all the old arcade classics .....life sorted

I did, since the early 2000's but I wanted an actual cabinet to plop them into which just make it 100 times better than using a controller............plus I've a gun hooked up for Point Blank, Time Crisis, etc.

fizzypish · 15-10-2015 01:00PM

Medusa22 wrote: »

I think if I'd known at 12 years old what my life was going to be like...well I think I would have just thrown myself off a building to be honest.

Mwhaa ha ha yes! If 15 year old me foreseen my life at late 20's I would have done a swanton bomb into a running combine harvester. My OH is a redeeming factor I must admit.

cowboyBuilder · 15-10-2015 01:02PM

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Nope,still a bit of a vagabond, it has its perks though.

Remember hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays off NOW !!!

R.D. aka MR.D · 15-10-2015 01:04PM

I've only realised somewhat recently that my life will never be how I imagined it as a child.

I wanted to be extremely rich by this age. I also wanted a high powered career where I was the boss!

There is only one thing 10 year old me would be proud of. I was always adamant as child that I never wanted to have traditional wedding. Like never! It was going to two options for me, either getting married on a beach or (when I got to 10/11) getting married in Las Vegas.
I'm secretly getting married in Las Vegas early next year. It happened completely randomly as it just happens to be the easiest, cheapest and convenient option at this time in my life.

I know the exact reaction of my family and childhood friends will be: oh you always said that you would do that.

I've shifted my childhood dreams to thinking about retirement. I want to retire at 50 and split my time between living by the sea and living in the desert, drinking wine, smoking weed and hanging out with my husband and a dog (my future retirement dog).

I hope it works out. Ask in me 30 years!

the evasion_kid · 15-10-2015 01:04PM

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Remember hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays off NOW !!!

Hard work got me nothing but a busted up body...and someone else rich.... One of life's greatest lies

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-10-2015 01:05PM

This got me thinking and I have to say life turned out so much better than I imagined it would.

al_E_kat · 15-10-2015 01:09PM

When I was 5 I wanted to be a nurse.........I'm now 27 and a nurse ha!

LDN_Irish · 15-10-2015 01:13PM

I wanted to be a solicitor who stayed single and only had casual sex like all the damn time. I said when I did settle down I wouldn't get married because I didn't believe in it. I did 1 year of AS level law and was like F dat shiz man. I've been with the same woman since I was 16 and did 4 years on a checkout after convincing her to leave her brilliant job and move to Ireland just (literally, just!) before the economy imploded. I'm now 27 and married with 2 kids. Left the checkout though and I'm self employed and paid fairly well, but not enough to look at mortgages so stuck getting bounced around rented accommodation every time a landlord gets a better offer.

The worst part: I have that hybrid Dublin/London accent that never bothers me until I meet someone else with it. *sobs*

15-10-2015 01:38PM

I wanted to have an orphanage filled with adorable babies to play with, I hadn't thought of the various technicalities of it's existence. Then I wanted to breed Jack Russells, I still might.
Then I wanted to be ''A cooker and a cleaner'' -eg, stay home and take care of my parents and granny. I don't know why I found that appealing at all but it's probably something to do with boarding school.
I toyed with the idea of marrying a billionaire and splitting my time between my mansion and the yacht in Monte Carlo (I think I'd just seen a James Bond movie), but I'm neither vacuous nor glamorous enough to go for that.
Then I settled on winning a Nobel Prize (I have my spontaneous humble acceptance speech off pat, it's very good) for services to humanity.

I now work in a University, I'm not paid much but I've my little flat, nothing I need that I don't have, and I spend my time on things that I feel are important, and I get more satisfaction and happiness from that than any amount of money could hold a candle to.

NachoBusiness · 15-10-2015 01:39PM

Nope, sure isn't.

I remember when I was young actually believing that forever was a period of time we lived for and that yes, I will die, but that being forever away, it wasn't worth thinking about.

I had a great life until I was 18 or so. I had more girls from when I was 13 to 18, that I have had since. I was a little slut when I was young. I thought life would continue like that. Sure why wouldn't I.

To quote the line towards the end of St Elmo's Fire..

Yeah, well forever got a lot shorter all of a sudden.

OldNotWIse · 15-10-2015 01:53PM

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Hard work got me nothing but a busted up body...and someone else rich.... One of life's greatest lies

Yes, I wish someone had told me that it's delegation and not actually doing the work yourself that gets you to the top.

rainbow kirby · 15-10-2015 01:54PM

Would have imagined myself as being all career, all the time when I was younger, never really imagined myself getting married or having kids. Not sure if I ever imagined myself leaving Dublin long-term either.

I'm 31 now, happily living in London for the last two and a bit years, in a job I enjoy but that still gives me plenty of free time for my outside interests, married since May to a truly wonderful person and have kid #1 on the way.

OldNotWIse · 15-10-2015 01:59PM

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Would have imagined myself as being all career, all the time when I was younger, never really imagined myself getting married or having kids. Not sure if I ever imagined myself leaving Dublin long-term either.

I'm 31 now, happily living in London for the last two and a bit years, in a job I enjoy but that still gives me plenty of free time for my outside interests, married since May to a truly wonderful person and have kid #1 on the way.

I don't think I appreciated how much the need for a child would dominate my plans. Initially, I said 22 because I figured sure I'll have it all by then and I'll be at my most fertile etc. 22 came and went and so did the plans. Got to 30 and started panicking, so set 35 as the "cut off" age. Now I'm 32 and nervously flicking past fertility articles in magazines and trying not to do a saddo victory dance when I'm reminded of my fertility each month. It's as if the need to be a parent just bulldozes the rest of the plans :P

Azalea · 15-10-2015 02:01PM

I never had much of a plan, as I didn't have a clue what to do with my life.
The younger me would still be extremely disappointed with how it's turned out though. :pac:

I'm happy though - your perspectives and priorities change with age/circumstances.

15-10-2015 02:02PM

When I was a little girl I was a walking cliché. Everything was pink and all I wanted to be when I grew up was a princess. When I was 13 I was crazy about animals especially horses. So working with them became the dream. In my late teens I realised what it was I wanted to do although it took a while for me to get there and I took a different path for a while. This year I finally qualified.

Sometimes I get sad because I thought I would have been a mam by now and have a partner to share my life with. My life is nothing like I thought it would be but it's really rich! The freedom I have is priceless. The places I go and the things I do. Laughing and being silly and talking crap and just being alive. It's great

lazybones32 · 15-10-2015 02:03PM

I remember making a wish when I say a shooting star (I was told they come true if you're the first to see it) and I wanted 3 simple things: to marry a beautiful blonde, win the lottery and have children. I don't ever play the lotto so there's no hope of my wish coming true...

Is this what you imagined?

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