Why is life worth living?

[mj4cy]

Feeling for @Jer and others here as seems like life is hitting hard for some. I'm a rollercoaster myself with anxiety at times. I had a really rough patch last fall with an issue where I was literally trying to survive minute by minute to get through it. I'm a true believer in getting through hard times is what makes us grow...even if we don't realize it until long after the fact.

Some things that seem to help me are trying to find the joy in little things, try to get busy/lost in a new challenge/project, and help someone else that's going through it.

On a lighter note, I swear when life is just going great, the Cyclone or Vikings find a way to derail that

 

[nfrine]

I would add that you avoid Golden Rule like the plague as well. I have a friend who's kid started working for them as a technician. Friend was telling me that Golden Rule pays hellish good bonuses to technicians that sell a brand new installed HVAC system and pushes them to sell despite HVAC system being servicable. That company will never set foot in my house.

Do unto others before they do unto you.

 

[Jer]

Sorry I was a little emotional. We finally got into our new Neurologist on Tuesday after waiting forever. Great news is that he’s one of the most respected Parkinson’s experts in the country, bad news is only UofI Hospital or Mayo would take me so we had to go to Iowa City.

We had a good visit but concerns turned towards already being at stage 3 and the possibility of PSP being a component. PSP has a life expectancy of 5-7 years, several of which are gone by now. So my sense of urgency makes things seem very dramatic, but only because to us it’s real. Hoping it doesn’t turn out to be that.

I do know I bug a lot of people on here and have for years. I don’t have friends and have always talked to the CF community as if it was my best friend, telling all secrets and fears. That comes across really odd and off putting to people because they don’t realize they have a real life outlet/shoulder and don’t need to use a forum to share life’s adventures. That’s my bad and why I take a back seat nowadays, even though I would love to be more active than ever.

Not trying for pitty, it’s just how I share with my “best friend”. I will go back to mostly view only though as I know it’s worn on many and my involvement isn’t always so welcome. Totally fair.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Sorry I was a little emotional. We finally got into our new Neurologist on Tuesday after waiting forever. Great news is that he’s one of the most respected Parkinson’s experts in the country, bad news is only UofI Hospital or Mayo would take me so we had to go to Iowa City.

We had a good visit but concerns turned towards already being at stage 3 and the possibility of PSP being a component. PSP has a life expectancy of 5-7 years, several of which are gone by now. So my sense of urgency makes things seem very dramatic, but only because to us it’s real. Hoping it doesn’t turn out to be that.

I do know I bug a lot of people on here and have for years. I don’t have friends and have always talked to the CF community as if it was my best friend, telling all secrets and fears. That comes across really odd and off putting to people because they don’t realize they have a real life outlet/shoulder and don’t need to use a forum to share life’s adventures. That’s my bad and why I take a back seat nowadays, even though I would love to be more active than ever.

Not trying for pitty, it’s just how I share with my “best friend”. I will go back to mostly view only though as I know it’s worn on many and my involvement isn’t always so welcome. Totally fair.

PSP is almost always misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s at first, sorry to hear that your symptoms are progressing to the point that this is being discussed.

I know we have talked privately before but if you haven’t checked out any Parkinson’s support groups yet I would highly encourage you to do so. Even if it’s PSP the groups would still be extremely helpful and very similar and PSP is rare enough that their isn’t much of a community

As always, sorry this is happening and best thoughts to you and the family

 

[Big Daddy Kang]

Hey, if you started the year in a mountain of debt from medical **** and then everything I listed hit, you’d be questioning if it’s worth it too. Maybe others have more money or it seems trivial but we’ve basically been put into a situation where we will never be able to pay off all the loans as we don’t have enough extra after my wife’s paycheck and my disability.

Sorry for being open and real.

It's rough all over, buddy. You own a house and have a family. It could be worse.

 

[isufbcurt]

All good here, no complaints.

But I would like to hear more about this audit, mainly because hardly anyone gets audited.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

It's rough all over, buddy. You own a house and have a family. It could be worse.

Not the flex you think it is.

 

[Big Daddy Kang]

Not the flex you think it is.

Not sure what you mean but flex you.

 

[Cyched]

I drive a Dodge Stratus

 

[JP4CY]

@Jer Dont apologize for being you.

 

[cyclones500]

Going through a divorce. Early on in the process but damn this sucks.

Sorry to hear. I've been through one, definitely no fun. In my situation, it probably was for the best, but I didn't think that "as it was occurring," that's for sure.

 

[Gonzo]

All good here, no complaints.

But I would like to hear more about this audit, mainly because hardly anyone gets audited.

I got audited several years ago for my schedule C income. It was from the "small business" division or whatever wing of the IRS that monitors small businesses. I'm not an LLC or anything. In addition to my full time job I take on freelance/contract projects throughout the year that are presented to me by former colleagues/coworkers. I think I made around $55k in freelance/schedule C income that year they were auditing. They thought I had underreported my income. What it ended up being was them thinking my bank deposits that were travel/expense reimbursements was taxable income that I didn't report. The IRS agent handling my audit was not very bright.

 

[Jer]

All good here, no complaints.

But I would like to hear more about this audit, mainly because hardly anyone gets audited.

No ****, like WTF. I didn’t think the government could do anything to function, let alone care about us. I don’t know their reasoning, but I think it just has a lot to do with the number of things we had last year. I went on disability, we rolled over my 401k, we had to withdraw all of the 401k over a few transactions, we refinanced to get lower house payments, started selling on eBay, etc. But I use TurboTax and always opt for the Audit Defense/Support - whatever that looks like - so have that in our back pocket if it goes further. It’s already been 2 1/2 months so they have to be nearing a decision point son I would think. But again this is the gov’t that we all have come to know far too well of late.

 

[isufbcurt]

No ****, like WTF. I didn’t think the government could do anything to function, let alone care about us. I don’t know their reasoning, but I think it just has a lot to do with the number of things we had last year. I went on disability, we rolled over my 401k, we had to withdraw all of the 401k over a few transactions, we refinanced to get lower house payments, started selling on eBay, etc. But I use TurboTax and always opt for the Audit Defense/Support - whatever that looks like - so have that in our back pocket if it goes further. It’s already been 2 1/2 months so they have to be nearing a decision point son I would think. But again this is the gov’t that we all have come to know far too well of late.

Hit me up if you want me to review anything to see if everything was correct and dispute what the IRS is saying.

I have a kink for battling governmental tax agencies. Proving them wrong is a big high. I specifically love taking Iowa Workforce Development know it alls to task. And as you probably guessed from my posting on here I am pretty blunt in telling them how wrong and stupid they are.

I am actually writing a letter to the IRS right now on behalf of a client because they IRS sent her a letter saying see owes a penalty for late tax payment. She paid it on 3/17/26 (which was before the due date) and we have the bank statement showing the EFT, but the IRS is saying she didn't pay it until 5/18/26 and assessed a penalty. This shows how stupid they are.

 

[isufbcurt]

I got audited several years ago for my schedule C income. It was from the "small business" division or whatever wing of the IRS that monitors small businesses. I'm not an LLC or anything. In addition to my full time job I take on freelance/contract projects throughout the year that are presented to me by former colleagues/coworkers. I think I made around $55k in freelance/schedule C income that year they were auditing. They thought I had underreported my income. What it ended up being was them thinking my bank deposits that were travel/expense reimbursements was taxable income that I didn't report. The IRS agent handling my audit was not very bright.

Interesting. Curious how they even knew what your bank deposit amount were.

 

[Gonzo]

Interesting. Curious how they even knew what your bank deposit amount were.

I probably mislead with the way I said that. They didn't think I'd underreported my income going into the audit, that's not why I was audited. I have no idea why I was audited. A "small business" that made $55k in gross revenues doesn't seem like it would turn up a red flag. But when I got audited I had to turn over all my bank records for that year, account deposits, etc. I guess that's when they saw the deposits of my travel/expense reimbursement checks and determined none of that was included as part of my taxable income. I told the lady when we spoke that those deposits were travel/expense reimbursements, that I would never bill a freelance client for $433.24 on a project, I deal in very round numbers. And I tracked down and turned in all the travel receipts to corroborate, which was a major pain. Still, it took several rounds of back and forth before I got the letter saying the matter was complete.

 

[isufbcurt]

I probably mislead with the way I said that. They didn't think I'd underreported my income going into the audit, that's not why I was audited. I have no idea why I was audited. A "small business" that made $55k in gross revenues doesn't seem like it would turn up a red flag. But when I got audited I had to turn over all my bank records for that year, account deposits, etc. I guess that's when they saw the deposits of my travel/expense reimbursement checks and determined none of that was included as part of my taxable income. I told the lady when we spoke that those deposits were travel/expense reimbursements, that I would never bill a freelance client for $433.24 on a project, I deal in very round numbers. And I tracked down and turned in all the travel receipts to corroborate, which was a major pain. Still, it took several rounds of back and forth before I got the letter saying the matter was complete.

A good reason why I advise my business clients to open bank accounts specifically for the business and run as much of the business as possible through them.

 

[Gonzo]

A good reason why I advise my business clients to open bank accounts specifically for the business and run as much of the business as possible through them.

Yep.

 

[Cy94]

Hit me up if you want me to review anything to see if everything was correct and dispute what the IRS is saying.

I have a kink for battling governmental tax agencies. Proving them wrong is a big high. I specifically love taking Iowa Workforce Development know it alls to task. And as you probably guessed from my posting on here I am pretty blunt in telling them how wrong and stupid they are.

I am actually writing a letter to the IRS right now on behalf of a client because they IRS sent her a letter saying see owes a penalty for late tax payment. She paid it on 3/17/26 (which was before the due date) and we have the bank statement showing the EFT, but the IRS is saying she didn't pay it until 5/18/26 and assessed a penalty. This shows how stupid they are.

Probably not a lot they left.

 

[CascadeClone]

Not sure what age others here are, I'm 54. I've learned that the "50s Squeeze" is a very real thing, at least for me. I assumed when I got into my 50s things would lighten up considerably, but my early 50s have been probably the hardest and most challenging of my life.

If you're not familiar with the 50s squeeze, it's basically just about all the things you find falling onto you as you enter that decade of life.

1. If you have kids, they're likely out of HS and often graduating college, transitioning out of the home into adulthood. Yes, the idea of an empty nest is liberating, but having kids transitioning into adulthood brings a ton of anxiety as well. And in some cases you may still find yourself supporting them financially after college.

2. If you're blessed to still have a parent or two, this is the age when your parent(s) are dealing with their own end-of-life issues, which is obviously very stressful for everyone. You may also find yourself financially supporting them, creating another layer of anxiety.

3. In your 50s is when you're likely to start experiencing your own health issues more frequently, and in many cases those health issues can lean to the more serious side.

4. These are your peak earning years as a professional, and the stress and anxiety that comes from maintaining your career or continuing to grow it and earn more, while also dealing with everything else coming at you, can be very tough on you.

5. Your own retirement is not that far off on the horizon, which obviously can bring a lot of excitement but also a lot of anxiety. Will I be able to retire at 65? 70? 75? Have we saved enough? What are we going to do with ourselves?

Everyone's different, but I can say all of these things have put the crunch on me over the past several years.

Also 54. Pretty fortunate on most of these, the kids are doing great and the money is sorted, but still... you can hear the clock ticking.