What do you live for and what keeps you going (dating, attractive)
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What keeps me going is to live another day, being grateful to be employed despite my circumstances and to be there for my mother and father as they are both going through difficult times. My father just done with cancer surgery and my mom going in for hip replacement on Aug 7th.
That's enough for me..in the end it's about giving back no matter what's going on with me.
Having defended careers as a possible legitimate point to one's life, there is then a question of what happens when we can no longer practice our careers. The OP asked a personal question of each of us: "What do you live for and what keeps you going?" Here is my answer:
I am 70 and have been semi retired for nine years, over which time I have become progressively more and more "retired". Since I am divorced and live alone, having something meaningful to do is of paramount importance. What I have found that is meaningful is volunteering in schools. I conduct a lunch time chess club once a week in two middle schools and two elementary schools. In addition I read aloud to the fifth grade classes once a week in the two elementary schools.
I feel like I am a catalyst in the awakening of the students' intellects. Fifth graders are at an age where they are beginning to be able to go beyond the meanings of individual words and grasp the implied meaning behind a group of words. I don't just read for 30 minutes and walk out. Rather, I ask questions, field their questions, and provide context for the readings. If the books are correctly chosen so that the students relate to them and enjoy them, it is an amazing process. When I observe a sea of rapt faces (and of course that doesn't happen every day), that provides a reward no money can buy.
One book from which I read excepts was "Dance on the Volcano" by Renata Zerner, who was a teenage girl in Nazi Germany. The author is now 86 or 87. After the readings I had Ms. Zerner visit the schools to speak to the students and answer their questions. She loved it, and the students loved it too.
This is what I live for and what keeps me going: The parents who seek me out to tell me that I have made an impact. The students whose enthusiasm can be read in their faces. I have had immense good fortune in stumbling on this activity in this particular public school district.
Having defended careers as a possible legitimate point to one's life, there is then a question of what happens when we can no longer practice our careers. The OP asked a personal question of each of us: "What do you live for and what keeps you going?" Here is my answer:
I am 70 and have been semi retired for nine years, over which time I have become progressively more and more "retired". Since I am divorced and live alone, having something meaningful to do is of paramount importance. What I have found that is meaningful is volunteering in schools. I conduct a lunch time chess club once a week in two middle schools and two elementary schools. In addition I read aloud to the fifth grade classes once a week in the two elementary schools.
I feel like I am a catalyst in the awakening of the students' intellects. Fifth graders are at an age where they are beginning to be able to go beyond the meanings of individual words and grasp the implied meaning behind a group of words. I don't just read for 30 minutes and walk out. Rather, I ask questions, field their questions, and provide context for the readings. If the books are correctly chosen so that the students relate to them and enjoy them, it is an amazing process. When I observe a sea of rapt faces (and of course that doesn't happen every day), that provides a reward no money can buy.
One book from which I read excepts was "Dance on the Volcano" by Renata Zerner, who was a teenage girl in Nazi Germany. The author is now 86 or 87. After the readings I had Ms. Zerner visit the schools to speak to the students and answer their questions. She loved it, and the students loved it too.
This is what I live for and what keeps me going: The parents who seek me out to tell me that I have made an impact. The students whose enthusiasm can be read in their faces. I have had immense good fortune in stumbling on this activity in this particular public school district.
Maybe I've missed them as I''m not here 24/7 but your post was touching and feel much respect for. I wish there where more people in the world like you. Keep on teaching and if you can see the reaction on a kids face you are doing a good thing. Very cool.
I have not been following this post but I did comment very early on. Now I am wondering what is keeping me going and I'm not sure. I just don't want to quit! Thing is, everything positive I have around me doesn't seem to matter. Yet I cannot quit! Then again, while my life does not seem to have any 'value' at the moment, I am not in the depths of despair. I have been grieving for the last six months but grief does not constitute a reason for giving up even though there doesn't seem to be any point of further existence. Those of you who have experienced loss to suicide will know what I am talking about. The pain never seems to let up. There is always a new angle to it yet giving up does not feature. The only thoughts regarding continued existence are how to get through. How to to move forward. How to recover. But then I am on anti-depressants which I was on for major depression before the tragedy. I don't have the answer - maybe it's just a stubbornness. Fact is that my grieving has gone from unbelievable distress to periods of near normality in between the grieving. But I still don't know what keeps me going. Built in survival instincts maybe? Obviously, my attempts to deal with my grief are what makes me interested in this and similar threads.
Nothing. I keep waking up everyday, I didn't ask for it, just keeps happening.
Funny you should say that. I was about to say me too when I realized I actually want to wake up in the morning! I actually wan't to live and I am asking for it. Go figure!
Funny you should say that. I was about to say me too when I realized I actually want to wake up in the morning! I actually wan't to live and I am asking for it. Go figure!
well that's great for you I guess.
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