Life Strategies

I've always felt like reading books, especially novels, has given me a window into other people's life strategies. When you read someone's well crafted novel, you learn some of the things they have learned and share their life, in some ways.

You only get one life yourself, though. I doubt anyone really makes it to 100 without a regret. Everyone makes choices that they wish they had not. You can see things later that you could not see before. That is all unavoidable. If only you had the insight at 20 that you have at 50 or 80.

Zeynep chides me for still working for a company - which is pretty temporary and barely an imposition at this point. Her better point is that I've worked there for 20 years now, when I could have been on my own much earlier. I've known many people who "won't work for anyone else". I can say that they are not generally happier at 60 than people who were okay with working for a company. For them, I don't think there was a real choice. They really couldn't function as an employee.

While I am a self-reliant person and not an extrovert (more something in between extrovert and introvert), I still have found great value in being part of an organization. People in groups can do things that people alone could never accomplish. My role as a manager was one that gave me much pleasure. Having to cooperate closely with people who think differently from you makes you grow. But then, I love humanity, for all our flaws. I want humanity to flourish and improve, and believe we have that capacity. I have many theories about what the future will be like - and they are happy theories. The story would have a happy ending, if I was telling it. I want to be part of a big "yes", not a big "no". I like being with other people and I don't mind adapting to rules, as long as they are reasonable.

I take no credit or blame for this attitude. It's the result of my genes and my past history.

But the main point in having such a blog is to impart information to others that might help their future be better. We start out with our genes at conception and, from then on, who we are is shaped by what we take in - both in nutrients and information. As I've gotten older, I have become increasingly discriminating in both things. I avoid disinformation. I seek new information of a higher quality. Same thing with nutrition.

My 20 year job paid very, very well. I chose not to buy useless stuff with the extra money, but to save it. That saving lets me retire at 55. With my good health and intentions to maintain it, I am likely to live a long life. I believe that medical interventions will be available within my lifetime that will improve that outcome significantly as well. My husband and I have begun to really talk about this future in detail now - especially on those daily hikes. It's quite a gift to have this time ahead. The possibilities are many. I have no regrets about that. I have no regrets about sacrificing time or money for my children. Their value to me cannot be measured.

CR is very consistent with my career and money strategy, I think. You forgo near term pleasure, experiencing a little sacrifice, that will pay off in the future. It's the strategy of the ant, not the grasshopper, in the old Aesop's fable. It's not a bad strategy. The grasshopper looked good in the summer, but his winter was worse. If I hadn't done what I did, perhaps I would be heading into a grasshopper winter. Instead, I am the happy little ant.