Do you ever think you could have achieved more in life?

[wende]

I’m only starting out in my career so who knows where things will end up. So far so good but life can be full of surprises or I may decide I’d be happier working 35 hours a week rather than my current 60+

My mum has recently retired. She expressed that she couldn’t believe her career was over and this was “all she achieved”. She thinks she could have gone so much further, but in her youth she preferred to party and then didn’t want to work much more than was needed to not get sacked, but remained in a lower level managerial level for 15 years.

I guess it depends on what you personally consider a 'successful' life.

If having a baby/family is your goal, I'd imagine most in here feel pretty fulfilled. If meeting your academic/professional potential is your metric, then many of those will likely have suffered as a result.

Every. Single. Day.

I feel that I have over achieved in every area of my life.

My only regret is the angst I felt as a child and young person that I wasn't good enough to do well. I have done really well, and achieved everything I wanted to and more.

I wonder now if that's because I had so much drive because I felt a failure at school age? Sometimes I think being an academic success at school doesn't always set you up well for adult life.

Thank you for this. It's what I believe too.

All the time. DC at private school so lots of parents are doctors and consultants and have high achieving careers and I feel very uninteresting by comparison.

I never knew what I wanted to do. Still dont and I'm 46.