How hard did you have to work (in life) to get to where you are? Did you have a lot of struggles along the way, or has it been a rather easy road, thus far?

It was fraught with many challenges. If I had one thing to do over, it would be not to worry so much about things. Living life thus far however, has created who I am. Hard? Easy? Those aren’t words I choose to describe my life with.

I’m still working on a a few challenges, but it hasn’t been easy. I feel like I’ve scratched and clawed my way to something. Not really sure what it is, but it’s not the end. I do know that. The struggle meade me very bitter. But upon thinking it over, I’m glad it happened.

Smoothly sailing over obstacles has been my life. Failure is not an option, but I can’t prevent shit from happening. Sometimes my motivation is the main obstacle. Hard work has paid off so far, though….

and you?

Nothing but struggle, although lately I have been enjoying getting an advanced education.

@MissA I agree with not worrying so much; I spent far too much time and energy in my youth worrying.

I have felt such great direction from God. Many things have turned out well and I know I’ve received guidance as to what career to choose, where to work, and where to live. However, throughout my relatively short life so far I think I have been through many hardships, through which I have been strengthened (but some of which tore me down and defeated me in some ways, because they were so hard to experience).

My parents though… I never want to experience their lives! They’ve never had smooth sailing financially. That is why I am taking extra caution to prepare my career and education.

I hate sounding like a sniveling ingrate so I won’t even bother answering this question.

I’ve had a few challenges so far. The first major challenge was after my ex-husband left me alone with my then 10-month-old son. I decided to go to nursing school, so I was working full time, going to school full time, and raising my son alone. Luckily I had family that was willing to help out where they could. My most current challenge is getting through my husband’s deployment. The hardest part is just the missing him. The rest I am use to from the past experiences I’ve had.

No more or less than anyone else I suppose. There’s been deaths and illnesses and financial woes. There’s been personal struggles and family drama, sure. But it’s not like I’m breaking rocks here.

I’ve been lucky not to have any crippling physical issues, diseases or real homelessness so everything else has been doable even if it seemed like struggling to me. One thing is, even as a kid I didn’t expect anything to come easy and wasn’t afraid of pushing myself.

Good question!

I just turned 67 and one thing I can say with certainty is that you seldom wind up in the place you thought you’d be. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer and go into politics, but discovered I hated the law, dropped out of law school, and joined the Army to avoid being drafted. After some 34 years in the military, I thought I wanted to be an employee relations manager, but when I got there, I discovered there was virtually nowhere else to go in that field. I changed careers several times since then, finally returning to the Service as an advisor, then being retired as disabled because of a parachute jump gone bad.

The best thing you can do is ( in my opinion ) study subjects that you can use in multiple careers ( such as history, English, math, etc. ), then when you find you need to change careers later in life, what you studied is still useful.

I think any real barriers I’ve faced have been caused by the faulty beliefs in my own mind I formed when I wasn’t old enough to make a more accurate assessment of myself, my capabilities or of the situation I was in. I’m grateful to have had mens sana in corpore sano. I can only imagine how much harder life would have been without those particular blessings, which some people I knew then most certainly didn’t have.

I love where I am at now, in every capacity.

Who I am, where I live, what I do, ....the decade of my 40’s was the most growth oriented decade of my life and the payoffs have been huge in terms of material comfort, inner peace, and mastering many new things.

I just wish I could stay in this place forever..but….it’s not to be…still, I am cherishing my present moments more than ever this past 5 years or so and have weathered some pretty big storms, so makes this space all the more special….appriciated.

By accident of birth, I haven’t had to struggle for material comfort. By another accident of birth, social interactions that come effortlessly to most people are a constant struggle for me. For the first 46 years of my life, I didn’t know what my condition was called; I was just a loner by nature who could only succeed in a highly structured environment.

I was trained from childhood that being guaranteed a minimum standard of living imposes the requirement of using my life constructively. I chose academia and the military as a form of service, both structured sufficiently that my social inabilities were not so much of an impediment. Now I’m taking the “loner” approach, converting my ancestral homestead into a model of organic farming and energy self-sufficiency.

I almost died at birth, but my childhood was very comfortable. Two parents who loved me. A strict schedule that kept me busy. Getting things I wanted without even asking. Everything except the scheduling went on through my teens, and still goes on now.
I’d say that I haven’t gotten very far– I’m only 21, still in college. I am out on my own (kind of), but I wouldn’t say that I’ve had to struggle to do much of anything. I’m glad about it. I don’t think anyone would want to struggle unnecessarily.

It’s been a struggle, and I’m stull struggling, but I’m still here.