A four year plan

[seaurchin]

I'm in the USA but I guess a four year plan could apply to anyone who wants one. It seems a natural number anyway. I mean, high school is four years, so is college.

Last time we entered the Twilight Zone, I didn't do so well. (Hopefully, this time we won't also have a deadly, worldwide pandemic too).

This time I plan to do better. I will run my life rather than, I don't know, have life run me over, I guess. I have a four-year plan to keep me on track. It is, very generally:

1) Continue to make my donations and write my letters and so on, doing my little part to make things go as I hope they will.

2) Spend at least half of the next four years out of the country, with an eye to increasing that for myself and my family, if needed. (Discussed in an earlier thread).

3) Minimize negative news. Stay busy and focus on personal goals instead. I plan to be able to look back in four years and be impressed with myself, better off in the ways I do have control over (I have a list and am on it so far). My plan also includes lots of good times too, in spite of the darkness and dysfunction that I feel around us.

"... the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Yes?

 

[ShinyPink]

Amen, sister! I've been calling about the big stuff, like the recent defunding debacle. I'm also posting reliable sources in replies to those who post misinformation. It's time to stop being a pansy.

I was very nauseated last week, and thought I caught something, but it would come & go. I paid attention to my body and realized it happened when I read something that horrified me and made me super anxious. Now, I just read news headlines and delve deeper if I think I'll be OK.

Do what you can, when you can, to make a positive difference. It helps the feelings of hopelessness and gives a wee sense of control.

This is where being eaten by a lion comes in.... (See tariff post.)

 

[Matata]

This is where being eaten by a lion comes in.... (See tariff post.)

Have you told your loved ones what if anything you want done with your poopmains? I wonder if jewelry can be made from poop like cremains. It's possible a tariff will be placed on the poop....

 

[seaurchin]

Or, maybe it's not too late to meet up with that four year long cruise at one of its ports of call.

This cruise company invites passengers to 'skip forward' 4 years on world voyage

Residential cruise operator Villa Vie Residences’ Tour La Vie program allows travelers to join a lengthy trip around the world.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Matata]

Do what you can, when you can, to make a positive difference.

Good advice which I plan on continuing to do but I'm Italian so there must be the appropriate amount of drama via teeth gnashing, cursing (the maloik kind) cussing, foot stomping and door slamming or someone in the family will take me out fishing on a deep lake without a life jacket.

 

[Arcadian]

y'all know where I'm at. These days its day by day. Y'all will probably not see me unless things implode this week.

 

[stracci2000]

I refuse to watch the news for the next four years.

I'll get by somehow, although ramen is not as cheap as it used to be.

 

[Calliecake]

y'all know where I'm at. These days its day by day. Y'all will probably not see me unless things implode this week.

@Arcadian, Things imploding are pretty much guaranteed these days.

 

[dk168]

Mine tends to be 5-year plans, in that I usually plan that far ahead for foreign travels!

2027 was supposed to be Washington DC, however, that has been postponed to 2029.

This year was supposed to be for Japan, however, that is now postponed to 2027 to give me time to save up to be able to buy some pearls while I am there.

So here are my travel plans for the next 5 years:
2025 - None, however, I am spending 3 days in London for my extended milestone birthday celebration.
2026 - Norway
2027 - Japan
2028 - Venice
2029 - Tucson, Monument Valley and ? San Francisco or Miami

I need to live within my means once I have sorted my finances imminently.

Say no and push back more when appropriate.

Stay positive by concentrating on what I can do to influence and change.

Accept the fact that I cannot do it all.

Accept criticism with good grace.

Be more diplomatic when delivering bad news or criticism

By all means be helpful, however, avoid being dumped on.

This, from @seaurchin :

"... the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

DK

 

[missy]

I find this quote to be very true

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” —Viktor E. Frankl

Why not focus all this energy on worthwhile things? No matter what is going to happen you only can control so much. Control what you can and enjoy your life while you can because we are not promised tomorrow. And if you do survive believe me the next 4 years will go fast. The question is will we have any decent candidates in 2028? Probably not

And for goodness sake, disengage from the media. I haven't watched the (very biased and evil) news for a very long time and I suggest you do the same. For your sanity


@seaurchin enjoy your travels..where are you thinking of visiting?

 

[Avondale]

Nowadays my plans revolve mainly around ensuring financial stability. I'm self employed, so I only have work as long as my clients need my services. If my clients are out of business themselves, I go down with them. As you can imagine, that makes me pretty reliant on the presence of a somewhat stable economy. And when you depend on something so big, so out of your control, there's this constant fear and worry about what might possibly happen. I figured, what else is there to do aside from create a back up plans?

So, if everything goes according to plan, I should have a second stable source of passive income by the end of the year. With that, the idea is, even if everything else were to go ka-boom, I'd have just about enough money to pay my bills and fill my fridge.

My other long term plan is to continue growing my retirement fund. Again, financial stability for when I'm no longer able to work.

Everything else falls within the "living comfortably within your means" philosophy. I want to have a calm, uneventful existence, and to feel content. Like @dk168 I want to travel. Maybe indulge in a piece of jewellery every now and again. That is all. No big ambitions, no grand goals. Already did that and I'm done with that part of the life experience. The new generations are welcome to take over the grind.

 

[dk168]

And for goodness sake, disengage from the media. I haven't watched the (very biased and evil) news for a very long time and I suggest you do the same. For your sanity

Yup, I do that from time to time.

Recently, there was a quiz in The Times or Sunday Times in UK about a big event that happened in our country 5 years ago, and I scored just 1 out of 10 right.

My attitude was: just frigging get on with it, and I am at that stage again.

World Peace is not attainable IMHO.

DK

 

[missy]

World Peace is not attainable IMHO

Sadly I agree. At least not in our lifetime and likely never

 

[seaurchin]

@seaurchin enjoy your travels..where are you thinking of visiting?

Well, we're not traveling so much as moving more out of the US than we already had. Though tbh I haven't completely decided if it's all a super nifty idea or a traveling clown show.

Six-eight years ago, we decided to re-think living in the US but we didn't want to leave our grown kids. So we sold our house and have rented since then. But we bought a small, cheap (as "cheap" as real estate gets anyway) place in Canada, and in an area where our grown kids could find work in their fields, if it came to that. If they ever moved there, we'd be able to get permanent residency based on them. But Canada wants workers, not retirees, so otherwise, we can only stay there six months of each year. Which is fine because we don't want to winter over in Canada anyway. So we spend about a quarter of the year there.

We were finally getting ready to buy another, smaller, place in our home base area in the US, but then... So now we've decided to increase our life outside the US to half the year, and we're buying a second small place in a tourist area in Mexico. We've gotten permanent residency (which is easy to get, unlike Canada) and it's also near where we now have extended family (again keeping in mind where our kids could/would go if conditions deteriorate to that level, since family is a big priority to us). We're here now, waiting to finalize the purchase.

After this, we'll probably buy a third small place in our "home base" in the US because renting is getting sooooo old. Then we might look at doing short-term rentals, too (though the stab we already took at it in Canada was a disaster).

 

[Arcadian]

So you know why I'm here? poopy has hit a fan. I'm not allowed to discuss what that means. Just means I'm in a meeting and talking to you guys.

hugs.

 

[dk168]

I thought about a countdown timer, however, decided against it.

Instead I shall start planning for my trip to Tucson in 2029!

Planning for Japan for 2027 should be easy as I had already planned it for this year and still have all the details such as itinerary and hotels etc...

Norway will be with a tour so no planning required.

2028 for Venice will need some planning.

DK

 

[JPie]

It’s a dubious distinction, but we are the first people in human history to live through the collapse of an empire being live-streamed to us in real time.

The impact of this collapse will reverberate around the world so I don’t know that there’s truly any escape with a move abroad. Waking up to this realization over the last 16 months has been extremely traumatic but necessary. I don’t believe that whoever sits in the Oval Office could stop the collapse; they can only affect the timeline and make it more palatable (or not).

Where we go from here depends on how involved we want to be in laying the foundations for what comes after, and what world we envision for ourselves and ensuing generations. The biggest impediment is that the political education necessary to stop thinking we can vote our way out of this just isn’t really happening to the majority of people fast enough. They’re trapped in the cycle of Democrats vs. Republicans and don’t see the real class war that they’re in.

Personally, I choose to make the changes that I want to see, and I’m also realistic that we didn’t arrive at this place overnight so neither will we end the nightmare overnight.

 

[Calliecake]

Sending hugs @Arcadian.

 

[empliau]

I refuse to watch the news for the next four years.

I'll get by somehow, although ramen is not as cheap as it used to be.

I would live on ramen if I could, I'm a total salt junkie, but it's bad for my head. I get salt hangover headaches when I overdo it.

And I've broken every vow not to doomscroll, so not making any more.

 

[Arcadian]

Some of us are breathing a small sigh of relief right now. lets see if the emails stop at least for a day or so.

 

[Calliecake]

I’m going to need a better plan. I thought avoiding the news would be enough and it’s not.

 

[MissGotRocks]

I’m going to need a better plan. I thought avoiding the news would be enough and it’s not.

You are afraid to avoid the news for fear of what you will miss that may be important in your life. I try to get the gist of it and move on. Listening to the talking heads is annoying too!

 

[autumngems]

Lots of doomsday here, smile, life is good

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you for the reminder @autumngems. I hope you are enjoying your trip.