What’s Missing in Your Life?
This question is often asked of guests on television shows and talk radio. It seemingly goes “hand in hand” with the question of if you had it to do all over again, what would you change or do differently? The most popular answer, from the Baby Boomer’s point of view, is usually a lie as they would change nothing.
Please don’t ask me that question because, quite frankly, I and most everyone else, I believe, would say they’d change a whole bunch of things. Yes, I’m a man who is a human being owning up to his human frailties. Just review my post from October, 2023, “Regrets, I’ve Had A Few”, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what I’d change. But let’s now focus our attention to this current post and attempt to answer the question of “what’s missing in your life”? Hey, let’s be completely honest realizing I have no sound theory in my thoughts of what may be missing, or even what you may have missed, but merely providing some suppositions of “what ifs”.
The Baby Boomer has been extremely fortunate and he knows it. Now, that I’m in the Winter of my life there is just one four letter word missing from my life, but I won’t divulge that word until the end of this post so keep reading if you will.
Believe me when I tell you I’m not gloating as I don’t for one moment take my good fortune for granted anymore. From earlier posts which you may have read, I had a wonderful childhood surrounded by loving parents and other family members having grown up with a “silver spoon” in my mouth; I received an excellent public-school and college education; enjoyed, from what folks have said, a successful career; have two children which I’m very proud of; and fell in love with the “love of my life”–La Bear! In spite of my human frailties, I’ve attempted to lead a life well-lived. There’s really nothing more to say at this stage other than my life is only missing one four-letter word.
On the other hand, La Bear, in my opinion, missed a lot in her life growing up. She was the sixth child having seven other siblings. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager splitting up the family in two. Living with her single mother, she was literally forced to raise a younger brother and sister with the rest of her siblings being grown. She never had the opportunity to have a somewhat normal teenage life and enjoy what her peers were able to as she also held down a job to help support the family in her so-called spare time. Due to these responsibilities, she also missed out on being able to go to college and develop any real social life.
When it comes to family, I don’t care who you are, in every functional family comes some form of dysfunction which, in most cases, creates something missing in your life. It could be related to your upbringing, maybe you’re missing self-confidence or suffer from a case of low self-esteem. Perhaps, you weren’t properly loved or even abused. You may not have been the favorite child, but you, indeed, may have been the favorite child being spoiled with it finally catching up to you where you’re missing something in your adult life. It could be having been an only child and not having any siblings to grow up with creating some significant loneliness. Hey, you may have missed out on being recognized, appreciated, respected, or even taken for granted. Hey, you get the idea as we go on and on in our discussion of “what’s missing in your life”.
Your schooling may have caused you to miss something in your life. Not only could your education be affected, but your social environment being hampered by being or not being a member of the so-called “in crowd”, being or not being popular, having or not having a large number of friends. Maybe you were fat, too skinny, kidded, or bullied which caused you to shy away from your peers becoming an introvert and not an extrovert always insecure and questioning yourself.
You may have missed going to college or college had little effect on your career becoming overeducated. College could have caused a great deal of stress being in such a competitive environment. Maybe you missed out on joining a fraternity or a sorority, graduating cum laude, or just failing to graduate at all.
Did you miss not participating in outside activities like sports, clubs, being a Boy or Girl Scout. Perhaps, you missed being a starter or recognized star even though you participated in sports falling a bit short.
Did you achieve everything you wanted to in your career or was there something missing. You’ve probably felt overlooked, overwhelmed, and saw those getting ahead by playing politics and not really by being overachievers. Maybe you missed getting in the wrong career and just accepting your fate missing out on not doing what you should’ve done.
Back to family, as an adult, where you may have missed not getting married or being unhappily married leading to a divorce. You may have missed not having children or having too many children. You may have missed not having a good relationship with your children or elderly family members. You may have missed out on saying what needed to be said before it was too late.
Perhaps, you missed out in being involved in your community, or being involved in volunteer activities, or even being involved in your church. Maybe you had an interest in politics, but chose not to pursue elective office and now regretting it. I bet you once had dreams which became just that–dreams! What could be missing in your life continues to go on and on.
Are you kind or hateful, are you selfish or selfless, are you rich or poor, are you materialistic or generous, and let’s just ask whether you’re happy or not? “What’s missing in your life?”.
Well, it’s now time to reveal the four-letter word that’s missing from my life realizing I’m in the Winter of my life and so well aware that tomorrow is never promised. So, what’s missing in my life–TIME!