Friday OT - A Series of Unfortunate Events

[Angie]

Most people I know are sort of living in a mild state of panic/horror/worry about something or another right now.

Without venturing into cave territory, air your grievances if it helps get them off of your chest!

 

[JP4CY]

I'm actually a little concerned about I35. They're gonna shut down that Huxley exit soon for a new bridge and I have a feeling people are gonna lose their minds.

 

[bos]

Im worried my body and soul cant take another winter here. This week has sucked.

 

[cycloner29]

NIL in college athletics.

 

[Al_4_State]

Most of the things that keep me up at night are pretty cavey.

But I do often find myself pre-occupied or stressed trying to figure out how to make time for all the people I care about. I realize a lot of people just end up cutting down their circle or becoming more isolated as they age, but I really want to resist that.

My other big one is that I absolutely recoil at how our society has so gleefully become The Matrix. The amount of people that actively avoid socialization and spend their entire lives in their home is ******* terrifying. I think it's part of the root cause of most of our big societal issues. Too many people aren't getting out into the world enough and spend most of their time connected to screens, participating in echo chambers, and losing the ability to interact in person. I see how Gen Z has dramatically retreated from all kinds of social activities and find it terrifying.

It's always phrased as "wow - look how young people are drinking less, being less promiscuous, not doing drugs - this is great" but in reality they're becoming extremely unhealthy in a wholly different way.

I spend a lot of time trying to be in the world outside of the home, and expose my daughter to that as well. My hope is that Gen Alpha will push back against the extreme introversion of Gen Z and ditch smart phones for reality.

 

[madguy30]

Shoe companies 'updating' their different shoes every year only to not fit right the next year even if it's the same name/model.

I have hip/back alignment stuff so good stability is important to every day and so far any Brooks/Hokas etc don't fit.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I'm fairly convinced that time passes way faster the older you get. Events that seem like they happened 2 or 3 years ago actually were 5 or 7 years ago. It's weird and freaky.

 

[WooBadger18]

NIL in college athletics.

And the whole student/professional thing.

Part of me is also impatient. I kind of just want them to say the athletes don’t need to be students or spin-off the teams from the athletic departments so I can just make a decision about whether or not I still want to support the teams

 

[TXCyclones]

I work for a company that is owned by a private equity group. I am gut-wrenched most days because of how toxic the PEG-investors are, and how horrible they're making it to work there.

 

[Mr Janny]

I'm fairly convinced that time passes way faster the older you get. Events that seem like they happened 2 or 3 years ago actually were 5 or 7 years ago. It's weird and freaky.

I struggle with this one as well. I would say I'm a genuinely optimistic person, and most of the time, my main motivator in life is to make it enjoyable for myself and the people I'm around, whether that's at home, with friends, at work, etc. My philosophy is that life is way too short for trudgery. But as I get older, it feels like the year move so fast. It stresses me out, and I feel like I need to pack in as much life experience as possible.

...and that's why I want to take that overnight trip to Amsterdam, when we're at the Aer Lingus Classic, @Angie
Why are you denying me life experience?

 

[cdnlngld]

I'm fairly convinced that time passes way faster the older you get. Events that seem like they happened 2 or 3 years ago actually were 5 or 7 years ago. It's weird and freaky.

It's because each successive year represents a smaller proportion of your life. Totaly natural.

 

[carvers4math]

Most of the things that keep me up at night are pretty cavey.

But I do often find myself pre-occupied or stressed trying to figure out how to make time for all the people I care about. I realize a lot of people just end up cutting down their circle or becoming more isolated as they age, but I really want to resist that.

My other big one is that I absolutely recoil at how our society has so gleefully become The Matrix. The amount of people that actively avoid socialization and spend their entire lives in their home is ******* terrifying. I think it's part of the root cause of most of our big societal issues. Too many people aren't getting out into the world enough and spend most of their time connected to screens, participating in echo chambers, and losing the ability to interact in person. I see how Gen Z has dramatically retreated from all kinds of social activities and find it terrifying.

It's always phrased as "wow - look how young people are drinking less, being less promiscuous, not doing drugs - this is great" but in reality they're becoming extremely unhealthy in a wholly different way.

I spend a lot of time trying to be in the world outside of the home, and expose my daughter to that as well. My hope is that Gen Alpha will push back against the extreme introversion of Gen Z and ditch smart phones for reality.

A lot of the things I see online make me fearful to leave the house, in part due to trauma in my past. I force myself to do it, but I have a lot of nightmares and anxiety.

My husband is gone a lot due to one of his relatives basically drinking himself to death and currently hospitalized for the sixth time in less than a year. So the dog gets to hear me yell at the TV when we watch basketball games together. The alcoholic relative is the only one of my in-laws who has ever been nice to me.

 

[AltoonaFish]

I’m okay today. But my biggest fear is giving up. I gave up on life 7 years ago and survived. I fear someday it’s going to happen again.

 

[VeloClone]

I'm fairly convinced that time passes way faster the older you get. Events that seem like they happened 2 or 3 years ago actually were 5 or 7 years ago. It's weird and freaky.

My theory is that it is a percentage thing. When you are 5 years old one year is 20% of your life so a really big deal. When you are 40 a year is just 2.5% of your life and when you are 66 it is about 1.5%. Our perception of how long a year is is based on how much of our memorable life it is.

That is my theory.

 

[dahliaclone]

So many in our society are tied to their phones. Me included. But recently took it upon myself to get rid of nearly all social media accounts. I was at a restaurant recently and all I could notice was nearly everyone there was on their phone instead of interacting with the people they’re with. Our human interaction is so bad right now. That is worrisome to me.

 

[VeloClone]

I can't be honest in this thread without caving it. I am worried for humanity for a multitude of reasons.

 

[matclone]

My theory is that it is a percentage thing. When you are 5 years old one year is 20% of your life so a really big deal. When you are 40 a year is just 2.5% of your life and when you are 66 it is about 1.5%. Our perception of how long a year is is based on how much of our memorable life it is.

That is my theory.

I've thought of it in a similar although based on experience rather than as a percentage. When you're a child, most things are new to you. As you grow older, the experiences are less frequent and perhaps less memorable. I don't stress over it though. The stress is more over change that is too rapid, not always for the better. If memory serves, Arthur Miller once said, "We've lost a certain structure".

 

[throwittoblythe]

I work for a company that is owned by a private equity group. I am gut-wrenched most days because of how toxic the PEG-investors are, and how horrible they're making it to work there.

I worked at a place that was bought by PE in 2019. I joined in 2020. Before them, it was a family run company in a niche space, but still pretty big (500 employees). PE left it alone for the first year, but when it wasn't turn the profits they wanted, they booted the entire C-suite (including the son of the founder as CEO) and put in their people.

The company changed overnight. We went from being a very mission-based company that focused on helping people to one that was driven by profit margin and sales pipeline.

It was worst for me after I had won a big contract. I got all this pressure to get the client to sign the contract. They were going to sign, but they had to go through their internal processes. Finally, I asked my boss what the big deal was? Why so much pressure? We were going to get the contract eventually.

When he said "the quarterly report is due this week and we want to show that deal as closed for this quarter to make the PE guys happy," I knew it was not gonna work for me.

 

[throwittoblythe]

So many in our society are tied to their phones. Me included. But recently took it upon myself to get rid of nearly all social media accounts. I was at a restaurant recently and all I could notice was nearly everyone there was on their phone instead of interacting with the people they’re with. Our human interaction is so bad right now. That is worrisome to me.

We do the same thing. We try to be better about it, but still get sucked in too much. However, we have a hard rule about no phones at the dinner table, including eating out. It's sad how often you see a family of four at a restaurant and they're all on their phones. Or a dad with his young daughter out to eat and he's scrolling on his phone while she sits quietly.

It's definitely a balance because kids need to understand how to use technology as a tool, but its so easy for them to get sucked into it, too.

 

[Cybone]

I have convinced myself that most of the mental anguish I am currently grappling with can and will be cured when I am able to walk, barefoot, through the grass in my yard.

No more cold, no snow, just sunshine, fresh air and an abundance of warmth.