How has the last 10 years gone for you?

[helpimcrap]

no one on here knows me really in person so figured i'd post here.

This is a bit of a me, me, me post and i have no idea if i should post it but i go to university next week which i thought would never happen. I spend so long trying to play things down i think so don't read or complain if you are not bothered as it is long and boring. Thank you. This is something i was thinking about for the last couple of weeks - contemplation and reflection about how my life has gone over the last 10 years.

10 years ago - 2007, I was a 26yr old finance analyst ambitious in finance, living at home as couldn't afford to race and have a house, racing a sponsored motorbike having just won a 600cc championship and dating a beautiful girl with lots of friends and a fantastic, if irresponsible (lol), life I would say.

Fast forward 10 years and a serious accident later to being a 36yr old eternal singleton and in that time I have managed to do quite a bit including screw various things up with various people for which i will always be sorry and regretful but i have to live with these mistakes, learn from them and try to never make them again. Lost a lot of friends due to giving up a hobby through injury and am more careful about them now to keep a very small circle of friends. Going from one extreme to the other is a daily occurrence now as a result of my issues and i have learnt to temper it over time but in some ways it has also been a benefit as it has encouraged me to learn to walk again and do more extreme things from organising a football game to raising thousands of pounds for Scope cycling between countries and being asked to give a dinner speech in Paris (my proudest moment!) to doing various DIY to racing in time trials and at velodromes to learning how to snowboard to cycling up Mt Ventoux in the Alps to having tattoos to taking off to Australia to see a friend to taking a big risk of redundancy to living in a hotel at the other end of the country for months to owning a Porsche 911 (dream car) to being a best man for one of my best mates to owning a motorbike again (sorry mum) to going back to college and taking an almighty risk. Now i sit at home- in my own home! With an option of following a complete tangent career change into university to study Physiotherapy having had a career in finance, planning and then NHS finance, LGV driver, bin man and carer - last 4 in the last month! There is still so much i want to do and experience that i will never be completely happy or complete in myself i feel - always with a hopeful and jealous pang in my heart when i see how others are and it looks genuinely fantastic to me and i am so happy for them. I am proud of so much i have done but i can't help feeling sad about some things of which i have been told i am too hard on myself but it turns out that my 'perfectionism' issue can be a great thing but also my biggest flaw to happiness.

Please don't think this is a 'woe is me' thread. It is purely a reflection and i had to put it into words to order it and think more.

Life is fantastic and beautiful but i live in a fear that something will go change my life again and that makes me so wary i don't dare to enjoy it just in case and always have a back up - i am a proper 'sad act' now lol....

Onto the next chapter.

How has your life gone over the last 10 years?

 

[Dis86]

In a word...quickly

 

[Hades]

Fast and crap frankly.

 

[Freddie1980]

Pretty good, bought my own apartment where I lived happily until last year where I moved out to my 3 bed semi with my fiancé. Downers have been I've lost all my grandparents and god parents, I was made redundant just before moving into flat and my earnings have expanded inline with belt size.....

 

[Robzere31]

Pretty good, 10 years ago my life was going downhill. Drinking far too much, getting into debt & generally throwing my life away. Ended up doing 3 months inside for driving offences was probably my low point.
10 years later, I've move to a new area, met a fabulous woman & have been married to her for the past 5 years.
Debts have all been paid off & I only drink socially & to enjoy myself.

I'm also fitter & slimmer than I have been in the past 10-15 years. Combination of eating better & cycling 4-5k a year has helped!

 

[FL630]

First 9 of the 10 years, crap, waste of time. Last year, awesome, dream job etc etc. The one upside is I've been batting above my weight with the woman in my life for 4 years so I guess that was only 6 years of failure before hand

 

[LabR@t]

4 kids, 3 promotions and mortgage paid off.
Happy with my lot.

 

[aardvark]

Fast and crap frankly.

this really

 

[ci_newman]

I actually remember reading your posts after you had your accident. You're a lucky man and have achieved a lot. I recognise your username whenever you post around here

Personally, the last 10 years have brought me a wife, 2 kids, two adorable neices, a house and a relatively secure job in a good career.

Honestly I wish I had travelled more before I had kids, but my life hasn't been so bad.

 

[QlimaxUK]

In a word...WUBALUBADUBDUB

 

[Gerard]

Utter **** . More like the last 20.

 

[moon man]

10 years ago minimum redundancy from a soul destroying job and living minutes from shanon mathews estate in west yorkshire

now on a sunny hillside in cornwall above the river camel ,ridiculously beautiful location .4 day weekends

hasnt gone bad tbh

 

[Delvis]

Think I was on the verge of being made redundant, which was lovely. I was in a job I liked, I thought it was stable then WHAM.

Since then I've had approx 4 jobs I think? Two were long term, others 6months or so...

Work wise I don't feel like I've gone anywhere really, earning more money but feeling poorer than ever despite not spending much.

Life wise, okay I guess, 10 years ago I was single, now I'm married, sadly do not own a house but and doubt I will in the next five years unless something drastic happens or I find 20k laying in the floor.

So all in all, not amazing, I still feel pretty lost in myself, never sure where to go or what direction to take things, I guess it's through fear of failure...

Onwards and upwards really

 

[Ayahuasca]

I can now type around 3 more words per minute and I'm doing well convincing myself that material things don't make me happy

 

[Nitefly]

I haven't saved the world, done anything that will earn a legacy, nor has the planet hasn't been renamed 'Nitefly', so ultimately I still feel underwhelmed.

Damn you Hollywood

 

[Rroff]

10 years ago minimum redundancy from a soul destroying job and living minutes from shanon mathews estate in west yorkshire

now on a sunny hillside in cornwall above the river camel ,ridiculously beautiful location .4 day weekends

hasnt gone bad tbh

Not dissimilar here - 10 years ago I walked out of a soul destroying job with no redundancy but OK savings - living in an alright spot in London but surrounding areas have a terrible reputation - when I was there hardly a month went by without someone being stabbed to death, etc. in the general area. Moved back to my parents in the South West and have "4 day weekends" but working a lot of hours on the days I'm working so it kind of balances out. Not earning as much as I'd like but not really struggling for money either and have a reasonable amount of free time in useful stretches which I'd rather - but I've kind of stagnated here - I'd originally intended to move on after about 5 years but with house prices going through the roof I've kind of gone "LOL" and biding my time.

 

[WillyNelson]

Not bad I guess. My eldest has just turned 10 so I've spent a lot of the last decade trying to learn how to be a good dad. I still work in Finance. I'm still trying to get out of working in Finance. I've tripled my salary but I never finished my full qualification, which I'm disappointed in myself about.

I still have my oldest and best friends and I've made a few new close friends through work & social. I've bought & sold a flat, and bought a house. And I've managed to stay married. I've become a dad again. I've learned how to grow vegetables, lay bricks, build stud walls and tile.

I have a few regrets, but ultimately I wouldn't change anything about where I am today. My main aim now is to make the next 10 count.

 

[helpimcrap]

I actually remember reading your posts after you had your accident. You're a lucky man and have achieved a lot. I recognise your username whenever you post around here

Personally, the last 10 years have brought me a wife, 2 kids, two adorable neices, a house and a relatively secure job in a good career.

Honestly I wish I had travelled more before I had kids, but my life hasn't been so bad.

Thanks. I have done a lot I'd have never done such as cycling etc but there are certain things I'd love and so I am genuinely jealous of people like yourselves with wives and kids because with all the struggles you're in it together sharing the trials and tribulations. I'm just broken or something lol.

 

[helpimcrap]

Interesting to read about people's problems and how they've been turned around or the plans going forward.

 

[wnb]

My business took a hit due to the way our LA changed the way it procured services all in the pursuit of saving money. In the end we sold up, the chancellor changed the rules regarding btl so my houses are making less money. When we planned to sell my business, we ended up with a larger tax bill than planned due to the changes the chancellor brought in. I recently found out the projected savings by the LA were never made and in fact ended up costing more money. For some reason I voted tory and I'm now worse off, the good years for me were under labour.