Hopes go astray...

[mikey3000]

When we're young, we all have dreams and aspirations. Some of us achieve them and some of us loose our way. Life happens and hopes go astray. Which are you? Does anyone here have any advice to help us lost ones get back on track?

[DuckiesDarling]

I think most people get lost at least once in their lives. Realizing that sometimes you have to settle for the brass ring you can reach rather than the one just beyond your fingers is part of maturity.

But people always dream of something better, it's what keeps us going. Keeps us striving and makes us that unique animal, human.

[Canticle]

I'll know where I am, when I get there and then the journey will continue. We are here to learn and experience and unfortunately the learning and the experiences, are not always good, but we do have to keep on, for what has happened, has happened. We can only hope for better things. It's good to have dreams and some we can make come true. Others, will always be, just dreams, but they are still worth the dreaming.

[Long Duck Dong]

I have achieved everything and more that I have set out to do..... yet... its brought me no happiness..... no inner glow... no satisfaction.....

there is a reason.... I may have gained certs and shit, but the people I wanted to share them with.... are gone....

they were the people that supported me when I went thru hell on earth, they were the ones that watched me leave school at 14, survive a car accident at 16 that cost the lives of my friends and my partner, build up a mass of skills and talents over the years, run businesses, see my fiancee in the arms and bed of another, then the loss of my sister and her partner to aids, and finally a diagnosis of a mental illness that in nz, is incurable and untreatable.....

its all left me, a man that achieved my dreams, yet one who has lost what he valued the most...... the people around me that I cared so much about

now I am content to live out what is left of my time on earth, as I have nothing left to prove, and nobody to prove anything to.....

I turn 40 at the end of sept... and yet I have lived more in those 40 years, than some people live in 4 lifetimes.....

as I said to my current partner, you gain a broken down, jaded and disillusioned old man... a person that has learnt that life is what you make of it, but its only your life that you really have control over..... and some things you can never change

[DuckiesDarling]

as I said to my current partner, you gain a broken down, jaded and disillusioned old man... a person that has learnt that life is what you make of it, but its only your life that you really have control over..... and some things you can never change

But this partner loves you dearly, and even broken down you are more a man than most I've had in my life.

[by~his~side]

**but its only your life that you really have control over**

do we really even have that?
do we really have control over our own lives?
some parts, yes. but in the big picture, no.

life is like a box chocolates........

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Lighten up my Loves. At least you're on This side of the daisys. Life beats all of us down once in a while, but its how we deal with it that matters. If you get down so low that you are Thinking negitively and thinking its not going to change for the better, then its not going to. That's the time to get angry at the situation and pull yourself out of the self-imposed hole that you let yourselves fall into. I know this for a fact!! I get into small depressions once in a while, but I refuse to let anything get me over or make me feel like that for very long. Its just not in my make up.

I turn 55 next month. I dont look, nor act that age. I've survived things that would put most folks into a permanant funk, but I refuse to let circumstances rule my life...I'd rather rule my life My way. If you possess Eeore syndrom, that's how your situation is going to rule You. But if you make up you're mind that Nothing is going to hold you down, or hold you back for long, then Thats when you take back your life and circumstances.

Life happens, my Darlings. And some days you are going to be the bug, other days you're going to be the windshield on the car. But live it to its most full Everyday, and dont let it get you down. Love your life enough to Fight for it Everyday..:} ;)
Tuff Old Cat :cool:

[Bluebiyou]

When we're young, we all have dreams and aspirations. Some of us achieve them and some of us loose our way. Life happens and hopes go astray. Which are you? Does anyone here have any advice to help us lost ones get back on track?
My meaning of life varied with my understanding of life.
No longer will that special Tonka fire engine that I knew (at age 5) would grant me communion with God and Heaven.
My desires changed and understanding grew.
I have removed my expectations from my hopes.
Only those who fiercely believe in love have such love possible.
The randomness of life may work against one's expectations in life,
but I have found the continuous reinvestment in faith (all forms of faith) to be my strongest inspiration in life, love, art... and it seems that I oddly stumble into deeper draughts of life, love, art... along with horrible missteps.
Childhood optomisim must be carefully nurtured to survive.

The other side of the coin is to adopt sarcastic sardonicism outlook to look 'cool' to others, to be 'John Wayne' to others and self. And if we are successful in becoming 'John Wayne'... all hopes and aspirations are lost. We're the biggest coward/loser an intelligent life has to offer.
The irony lies in the fact that true success in life lies not in being cool and tough, but being honest and caring.
If you are Jewish, life can be even tougher, by social expectations. (what I've learned from my Jewish friends).
Good luck Mikey.

[Lady_Passion]

For what it's worth to anyone else, my personal rules of thumb are:

* Does what I want hurt me or anyone else?

* Keep moving forward. Avoid regressing.

* Does 'back on track' mean I aspire to the same goal(s), or am I'm evolving toward something new?

* Whether it be old or new, is it a reasonable expectation and something I can do and stay with long enough to gain and grow with?

* Am I clinging to something stubbornly just to say I finished what I started, though finishing may/will break these other rules?

[GremZealot]

I'm hardly old enough (almost 19) to have experienced anything close to what you guys have gone through, but I would have to say that I'm one of the lucky ones.

For most of my life what I wanted to do was get into the entertainment industry, write, direct or edit movies, TV shows, etc.

And I got lucky enough to get into a film school, and that is exactly what I'm learning to do.

It isn't what I expected it to be, but nothing ever is.

However, I've realized something over the past few months. I could achieve all of the career goals that I have, but it wouldn't mean much to me unless I had someone special in my life.

So my hopes and dreams have changed. When I was younger, I wanted to be famous, the next Spielberg or Terantino, marry a hot chick and be rich.

Now, if I could make a movie that can make one person laugh, or cry. To make them forget how crappy their lives may be for just a moment, I will have succeeded. I no longer dream for the drop dead wife (not that I wouldn't mind), but I'd rather have someone (guy or gal) that I understood and that understood me. Someone I could raise children and grow old with.

I don't think that those are bad hopes.

[mikey3000]

I don't think that those are bad hopes.

I think they are very good hopes. And you will meet them.

I'm in the process of re-evaluating what is important to me, what should be, and what isn't anymore. I think we all go through this at one point or another. Part of growing up, cause I refuse to grow old.

[Falling Leaves]

We all have our own doubts and levels of change, I think it is part of the whole process. My true person who is emerging from within sometimes falls back on old ways of thinking that are detrimental to myself and yet in this process I think we have to understand that we are no longer that person.

I call it my True Person because I realized I have always felt this way all my life, in things that have surfaced during my "evolution." It has brought profound revelations on more than one occasion. I can only simply say I know it is right because I feel it deep down into the core of my soul, this is who I am.

I think it takes some of us a little longer I think. The more we have buried and have denied over the years, experiences that have made us afraid, for one reason or another, of embracing that true person inside.

I have got through these times with the help of those who I have met here. Two times now since I have joined this site I have wanted to just give up and go back to my old ways, but found out I couldn't. The real person was there and waiting for me.. And with the support of those I have met here I have made it through each time.

So do not give up hope, no matter what! Listen here to those who are willing to share with you and help you along the way. Gather your courage and trust in yourself. You have to be who you are inside, you have to be true to yourself, and only you!!!