...to wonder what your aims in life are once you've got them?

[cjt110]

I always wanted to get an education, home, husband, car, good job, get married and then have a baby in that order. I remember saying to a friend not long after I had had my son that I didnt have anything else on my wishlist....

What do/did you still aim for once you had achieved your aims?

Be happy - ongoing in nature
Keep learning - taken up piano this year and another foreign language
Experience different cultures - always a fun one
Raise happy children - hahahaha

Ha, good ones OneFlew

I don't think I have any BIG life aims anymore, just little ones.... Go on more holidays, try to be a good mum/wife, just ongoing ones.

I don't think I have any BIG life aims anymore, just little ones...

What's wrong with that? Honestly, if you feel happy with your life most days then I think you're doing the right thing. I found I needed things to aim for when I felt less secure but now I'm happy with where I am and I don't feel the need to strive for things all the time any more. I don't think it makes me a better or worse person - it's just different now.

My aims are

-Have a baby (done)
-get better car
-get mortgage
-Have another baby
-get married

only done one so far and been with dp 9 years...money is the issue clearly

I wanted a house in the country filled with animals, children and laughter,

I am content with what I have achieved.

I agree flew. I just wondered if there's anything else in life for me to aim for, and I suppose if I cant come up with any big life aims then I've done pretty alright I suppose

I have a lot of career goals - is there opportunity for progression in your career? I also have fitness and language learning goals which I'm working on currently. I also have a lot of books I want to read and areas I want to become more knowledgeable about. I kind of also want to do maths a level one day and have a bunch of languages I would love to learn once I've achieved my current language goals. Also not really goals but I am raising a son so have a bunch of milestones I am thinking about with regard to they. I also find that maintaining friendships takes effort and thought so I definitely consciously put effort into that. I am definitely someone who likes to have goals and milestones in my life, but I think it's also totally fine not to think if things that way.

After a life changing medical emergency 18 months ago, my ongoing aims are these; to wake up in the morning, to keep loving and be loved by those I love. And to look out of my window every day and say 'that's the mediterranean sea, how lucky am I?

They I had a high responsibility job and it nearly destroyed me. I am now in a job that makes me happy and I look forward to work. I think eventually when my boss retires (which might not be too far away as he's already gone semi retired) I miught well end up in his position so I suppose thats something but not really an aim, just an as and when.

I try as hard a I can to maintain friendships and I have some that I would be so lost without but I find that others dont tend to put the effort in sometimes and as a result I tend to back off.

I'd love to learn Spanish - we mainly holiday in Spanish speaking countries so that could definitely be one to add!

dejarderoncar You are very lucky if you look out your window at the Med!

Surely they move?

When I first started work my ambition for my entire working life was to earn five figures

Then the sky was the limit as far as my career was concerned, but now I've been there done that, stepping back and staying close to my family, while still having a reasonably rewarding work life is my aim - proving very difficult to find that balance!

I think you're right Shirley as I dont find that I aim all that high now. I'm happy to pootle along and see what life throws at me. Not something as my 17 year old self would have EVER envisaged.

I wanted to live in the Caribbean and I do and I wanted a job that pays well but allows me time with my kids which I also have.
I have plenty of goals though, performing with a band again (in progress), learning the guitar better, progressing my career, running another marathon, learning French to an acceptable standard. All of which are entirely doable but have to find the time to do one of them instead of trying to find time for them all.
I am bloody lucky to have already achieved many of my goals, I just need to continue to strive for newer ones!

My goals at the age of ~25 were, in no particular order except the first two:
Finish PhD
Start career
Get into happy long term relationship
Buy house/flat
Have children

Fast forward 20 years.....have good career in chosen field, married for 16 years, have house and 3DC. Boxes ticked.

But I am always looking out for new career threads, progression, or just taking on new projects or making new contacts. I typically change job every 3-5 years. We moved house a couple of years ago so current goals include decorating and an attic conversion.

Also: finding new/interesting activities to do as a family; finding fun holidays and short breaks, taking up an instrument at the same time as the DC. In the last couple of years I have become a Beavers leader, which I would never have expected when I was 25, but I get a lot from it.

Keeping up with old friends needs more time and effort than it used to because they don't live nearby, but is so lovely; I would say that is an ongoing aim to see each one or each group every year.

Plus there is a lot of world that I haven't visited (most of it). That is earmarked for me and DH in early retirement (assuming happiness, health, inclination and money)......but nevertheless a goal.

Maybe the goals seem smaller after the big ones are met, but they are still goals, and it would be a shame to think 'this is it - nothing more to do'. Unless of course you really are the person who has everything :)

I must be a meglomaniac. I've got lots.

you wait world