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What does your “best life” look like?

Hmm... I do believe I'm pretty close to living my best life. What does that mean for me?
-I get to spend a good amount of quality time with my family.
-I feel accomplished in my profession (although I'm trying to switch professions, but I knew going in it would take a while to land that first role, so I'm content with where I'm at until I get that one "yes").
-I live within my means.
-I have a good relationship with my spouse.
-I spend fun/quality time regularly with friends.
-I can afford to get whatever I want at the grocery store, and I can to to the doctor/dentist whenever I need to without worrying about bankruptcy.
-I spend time on my hobbies.
-I read for both learning and fun (several times in my life it was only for learning).

What am I missing?
-World travel: we have not dedicated time or financial resources to this endeavor yet. Part of the issue being I *thought* I married someone who shared the same interest as me in exploring the world, turns out, not so much. It may be that I end up going with other people, solo, or my spouse joins in on only a part.
 
My vision of my best life has changed a lot over the years as the circumstances changed. Time passes and losses happen, and there comes a point where you've taken too many losses for your version of a best life to be feasible. And you're faced with the choice of living the rest of your life in misery, longing for an unattainable future, or adapting and changing your vision.

My best life now includes:
1. Financial stability. I don't need much. I just want to not have to worry about where I'll live, how I'll pay my bills of fill my fridge. For the time being I have this and don't complain.

2. Peace and quiet. Just a normal, regular, calm living, no stress, no drama. For reasons I will never understand this proves to be the hardest of them all to acquire. Most people desire excitement and adventure and only find boredom. I want their boredom so badly, yet it insists on evading me.

3. Travel and enjoying nature. This one is a work in progress, but the important part is there's progress.

4. A curated circle of people who love me and whom I love. In that regard I have been very lucky. I have the best friends I could've ever wished for, and then some more.

Right now I wouldn't say I'm living my best life. But I hope I'll get there soon.

vintageinjune said:
Part of the issue being I *thought* I married someone who shared the same interest as me in exploring the world, turns out, not so much. It may be that I end up going with other people, solo, or my spouse joins in on only a part.
Click to expand...

This is very similar to the situation I was in up until 2019. He hates flying. He hates leaving the house, really. He promised me travel and then bunkered up at home. :nono:

The way I solved this was by planning a trip in 2019. Just for me. Before I bought the tickets, I told him of my plans, very matter-of-fact-ly. He was shocked. Such a sad expression. "And you'll be going without me? You'll leave me behind?" So I invited him to join me.

Travel has been a lot simpler ever since. But I've stuck to the tried and tested recipe. I make the plans myself and then invite him. He's always welcome to join, but he's no longer the deciding factor on whether or not I travel. And I highly recommend this approach. Just because we married someone, doesn't mean we have to be limited by what they don't want to do.

<edit> It's been a while since I've had to fix so many mistakes and typos in a single post... My brain is a mush.
 
my "best life" is the life I am actually living :)

I wouldn't mind a little more "me" time and quite a bit more couple & travel time with my DH but that will come in the natural course of things after my mom has passed ...
 
I was up until July last year; family home with family, decent paying job with a heap of fishing in between. I was made redundant and had to get a new job and while the pay is waaaay more, the work/life balance is gone. 12 hour days most of the week now. I barely get to see my son anymore.

Planning on starting my own business soon back in the same corner of the industry I was in previously, if I'm going to be run off my feet being busy then I may as well do it for myself and make 7 figures per year.
 
My best life is not far off from the one I live. We could certainly use a bit more cash for things like travel, eating out, bling etc, as there's not much left after bills for those luxuries.

In all the ways that are important, I'm very fortunate. I have relatively good health, enough to eat and a safe roof over my head. My hubbie is my best friend and my sons are healthy.
 
For the most part, yes.

Financial stability, good health, have travelled extensively, nice home, nice car, loving, long term stable relationship, good friends.
 
I’m pretty blessed.
The only thing that would make my life better would be to see my adult kids more often (~twice a month now, so no real complaints).
Oh … I would not mind winning the lottery so I could set up my entire family (super close to us :mrgreen:)
Overall, I’m happy and know that I’m blessed.
 
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Some days it certainly feels like I am, especially during my 9 weeks of summer, lol. I go back to teaching in a couple of days and I am trying to remind myself of all the little things that I have to look forward to and quite frankly, it is not hard to do that. I am very grateful and feel very blessed at this point in my life.

I know things change in an instant, so I am mindful that every day is a blessing and chance to live it to the fullest. While I have financial stability, a loving hubby and independent daughter, my dog is elderly and as hubby says, we are on bonus time. I also have a lot of empathy for many of my family members who are suffering heartbreaks. I feel
Powerless to help them bc they don’t want my support. My menopause is making me miserable, but I am fighting back by taking exercise classes and I am soo proud of myself for doing that!
I don’t think more money would give me my best life. I don’t think more free time since I am an empty nester and have lots of vacation time. I know that I have let friendships slip by the wayside and that is probably my only area that could enhance my life. But it goes both ways. I have been hurt by many friends so I tend to just keep people at a distance.
 
Yes. I am very fortunate and do not take anything for granted.

I am married to the love of my life who somehow I love even more now than when we first fell in love and never thought I could be so head over heels still.

Someone wise once told me the two most important decisions in life are one, who you marry (or choose as a life partner) and two, your career. I had an amazing career and have no regrets about that. It was fulfilling and I made a positive difference in the lives of others who needed it most. And I married the love of my life. My B'shert. Life is full of challenges but my DH is always my soft place to fall and we are a team. I feel so lucky to have him by my side.

We have financial stability which provides peace of mind for me. Money is not the end all be all but it makes life easier IMO. We have many "things" but that is not what brings me true joy. The people (and animals) in my life are who bring me joy and vice versa.

We have health issues yes, but hopefully nothing that will change the course of our life. Putting it all into perspective.

And I am so lucky to have a loving and supportive family albeit few in number. So grateful for my mom, my dad and my sister and nieces.

I also feel so fortunate to be able to help our local ferals and help rescue groups as much as we can. I am passionate about animals and care deeply about them. They have no voice and depend on the compassion of human beings.

.
As @nala wisely wrote life can change in an instant. I've seen it happen more than once. So I value each and every day and take nothing for granted ever. I try to live in the moment (not always easy for me) and I live my life as I see fit. I was never influenced by peer pressure. I am guided by my own internal compass and I do what I feel is the right thing in all situations and this also brings me peace.
 
The last four years have rocked my world in a bad way due to losing 4 people close to me and three of them died way before the average life expectancy. So not really living my best life but doing the best I can. With that said I know that there are a lot of people on this forum and in life who also suffer with loss so my situation is not unique. The one good thing is that the newer version of me is much nicer than I used to be. I don't find myself as critical of other people and if someone says 1+1=3 I would say "you're right" because I just don't want to argue with anyone anymore.

I appreciate everything I have much more than I used to but there is a nagging fear deep inside that it can be yanked away so easily. So it's a weird feeling of gratitude and fear.

Forgive me if I am over sharing. I am looking outside from my window and the yard is beautiful. Banana tree leaves swaying in the breeze, wildflower garden in bloom. Taking my Godson out for school clothes, shoes and other things to get him ready for the school year. Hubby walking around without his shirt (treat!), dog snoring at my feet so there are great things in my life. :)
 
My best life will happen when I can finally retire in 6 years.
I'm so tired of getting up and leaving the house every morning.
I have plans to fully immerse myself in my hobbies.
In the mean time, there's a roof over my head and food on the table.
 
I am semi-retired and am working part time in sufficient gainful employment so as to pay the bills and allow me to do things that I would like to do while I am still physically fit and have most of my marbles.

DK :))
 
Not boosting, however, earlier today, I had been head-hunted for my first 6-figure post which I declined, as I do not wish to work full time in a very stressful job again, as I know the company that is recruiting and the post itself.

Money is not high on the list of priorities. What is the point of earning all that money when I can't find time to enjoy spending it?

DK :))
 
My best life looks like lounging by a pool in a tropical location wearing a turban, dripping with diamonds, and swanning around in a kaftan. Am I living my best life? No.
 
So this is an interesting topic to me as I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. My son and his family moved in a year ago to save money and are building a house so my empty nest peace and quiet disappeared. But even right before that, I babysat their dog for three years while they worked. So my best life was 2012 to mid 2017. And that’s very specific because it’s when our youngest son graduated from high school and went off to college to play Division I football so we had five years of traveling around the US, watching our son living his best life and making some great friendships in the process. We also owned a vacation home in the USVI and got to use that a lot. And then, on one single day in 2017, my dog got attacked at the park, and we found out my son decided to quit his dream of pursuing the NFL, and our older son decided to tell us that he did not take the bar, even though he graduated from law school, and then poor attacked dog and I walked into a yellow jackets nest. And a month after that, our vacation house island got hit by two CAT5 hurricanes. So I’ve learned that even when you think you have your best life happening, it can all change. The lessons that I have learned in all of this is that peace and quiet and joy are all I want. We are successful enough that we have bought a vacation home closer to home so we do not have to deal with the issues that we had in the US VI. Former football player son is working in the family business and doing well and has blessed us with two beautiful grandchildren. Former almost lawyer son has discovered an amazing new career with the boys and girls club as a teacher and he’s super happy with his lovely teacher wife and cat. I am waiting for younger son and family to move out so I can just go back to pulling weeds and reading books for pleasure (while maintaining 2 homes, one of which is a rental property and extensive landscaping, and all the personal business for a workaholic husband ) , and enjoying the grandchildren when they live in their own house.
Edited to add, my husband’s much shorter version of this story is that for 1 summer we had a lawyer ( son studying for the bar ) and an NFL player ( UDFA who was with the Denver Broncos ) and then we had none.
 
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In February 2022, I took on an additional contract working 15h per week nominally on top of the 7.5h per week for an existing client.

15h per week was not 2-day per week. It was spread over 5 days, and nearly everything that landed in my inbox was urgent.

I was clock-watching all the time, could not go out in the afternoons in case something urgent came in.

I had existing non-work commitments, and more than once I worried about whether I could fulfil my obligations to existing commitments.

In the end I gave up that contract as I valued my freedom and free time more.

I recently took on another 2-day per week contract for 3 months, requested by a friend whom I befriended via working as a contractor at her company. She is now the head of a department and needed help.

So I said yes, on the understanding that 15h per week will be spread over Mondays to Wednesdays as I have existing commitments already and cannot work just for them solidly for 2 days; excluding holidays that I have already planned. A timesheet will be used to log my working hours for billing purposes.

She would like the contract to be 4 months until the end of November as I said December is out due to being busy with my service charity club. I said no, 3 months then review nearer the time.

I am semi-retired and like to stay that way.

DK :))
 
This is a difficult question for me to answer because I feel like my best life was when I was a SAHM when the kids were babies. That was always my dream, to be a mom and get to stay home with them. However, now looking back I was living a bit of a false existence, surrounded by fake people and dealing with them out of the feelings of obligation. I also cared too much what people thought of me, that is exhausting!

Now the kids are older, I am working and the fakes have been removed (or have removed themselves) so this is definitely the most authentic my life has been. I no longer do things out of obligation, time is precious and limited so I only spend it those who really matter. Is this my best life? Maybe, or maybe it’s as good as it gets for now. Either way, I’m here for it.

Best life? Maybe
Most Authentic Life? Yes
 
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