Serious My Life Is Better Than Yours

faint

Banned deucer.
Over the past few years this forum has slowly turned into a discussion board for depression and other not-fun things in life. Everybody goes through shit in life, so let's set that stuff aside for a moment, and instead post something positive about our lives for once.

I've managed to keep a steady, healthy weight for over 4 years after losing a second person back in 2012.
 
When I was a teenager our house caught on fire. It was an old duplex that had faulty wiring and forensics chalked up to an electrical fire.

Now I'd never really had any faith in a higher power but this event changed that for me. I'd usually sleep with my bedroom door shut/locked and with just my underwear but the night the fire broke out I had left my door wide open and stayed fully clothed minus shoes. These were unusual things for me to do at the time. My bedroom was in the back of the house behind the kitchen, where the fire started. All I can remember was waking up to noises similar to fireworks, noticing the fire outside the room, and running to the front yelling at the top of my lungs like a coward. The duplex had not been provided a smoke detector upon moving in and that later won my family a law suit but it took years. We had lost everything overnight while my mother was at a bar. My grandmother and oldest sister sustained bad burns, especially my sister. Resulting in years of trips to Galviston, Tx to receive skin grafts. She is in college to be RN now but still wears long sleeves, even during the summer, to hide her scars. The event was devastating resulting in my sister's going to live with their father and me ending up with an aunt. My mother struggled long and hard to regain what bit of sanity she once had but it was difficult and she never fully recovered from the guilt of being away when she was needed most. Now this story might not jump off the page as positive but read between the lines.

We all survived, we had lost all material possessions and was lucky to be alive. We all had seen the face of death and lived to tell it. As a young boy my mind was incapable of comprehending what really happened that night. As I matured it seemed more and more to me that something, somewhere was watching over. The fire department said the fire had to have been going at least fifteen minutes before I was estimated to have been awaken. I was the first to have been stirred but I can't in good faith take responsibility for us all making it out alive. I neglected to make sure my grandma was awake and my sister ran to her instead of outside resulting in them both getting burned badly and having to be removed by fire department. My cowardice on that night still bothers me. People were hurt because I was a scared coward.

The silver lining here, is that we all had a fresh start. Having come so close to death really makes you appreciate what you have, trust me. Don't loose hope and always remember that there is a higher power. I truly believe that religion has perverted the concept of the creator as a means to control the masses.

Don't take for granted because the next day you might wake up without. Love people not things, possessions are replaceable. People once gone, never come back. Life is finite enjoy it and learn from it. Let the negative go and cling to the positive like lint to a cloth. Don't squander precious time on frivolous pursuits. Get involved with something that makes you happy and gives you those good feels.

That's what I did, I wanted a family. It took me until my thirties but I made it happen through sheer determination. If I can come from the crack infested ghetto of North Memphis, TN to finding my own happiness despite everything seemingly being in my way... then I can't fathom any reason anyone else can't find their own happiness. Stay well Smogon, Godspeed to you all.
 
after years of being terrified of how I was going to make it in this world, I finally got a big boy job at a big 5 canadian bank with some of the best benefits and incentives I've ever seen in my life. as someone who desperately wants a family down the road (literally my reason for living), this is the biggest thing that's happened in my entire life.

when I tell people about my current financial situation, I tell them that I've got my silver ticket, and in the next 5 years I'll do everything in my power to get that golden ticket.

my ex girlfriend of three years and I are finally talking on good terms after one of the worst breakups of all time. not that we're going to end up back together, but closure is always really good. I finally showed her all the music I've made since we've broken up. Being able to tell someone that they're an inspiration after all that bitterness, whether good or bad, is a really profound experience.

a few other good tidbits recently, but I won't bore you guys.

one more thing, winning UU open really meant a lot to me... this was literally my biggest tournament goal since joining the UU tour scene in 2014/2015.

life is good in general.
 
I'm almost finished with my first year of teaching, and it's been a blast working at the school district that I'm working at. It is not a place that a lot of people would want to teach at coming out of college but I have learned so much about how to teach to students who have a lot of different learning disabilities and emotional needs. Me being an honors student in high school, I never really had a great understanding of how to help the kind of students I am teaching now and because of our two teacher per class method of instruction, I've been able to learn and really blossom as a well rounded educator. The job is really a second student teaching that I get paid to do and I'm loving most everything about it.

I've also been moved out of my parents house for 6 months, and I'm doing really well jugging working two jobs (I still work at a grocery store about 10 hours a week to keep a summer job) and managing adult life. My girlfriend of almost four years is a wonderful roommate and friend, and for the most part this experiment is working out for the best.

As a near 23 year old, I have my student debts payed off (thanks massive scholarships!) and have a reliable car that's fully paid off too, as well as nearly $30,000 saved. Which... is a major blessing considering where most of my friends are at and where people my age usually end up at this point in their life. So I feel really good about the choices I've made and the direction I'm going.

I'm finally in a position where I get to have fun in my life and start doing a lot of the traveling and exploration that I've wanted to do for so long but never could because of school and work. I'm contemplating taking a trip to Boston this summer as well as trying to visit my best friend that lives in Atlanta that I haven't got to see in almost 4 years. And those are all good things that keep my motivation high and give me things to look forward to.

Oh, and it's baseball season!
 
I semi-conquered my fear of sleep paralysis after realizing that I've only been sleep paralyzed thrice in my life and I've had moments where I had control of my body but my mind was still dreaming like 80 times in my life, which is the exact opposite of sleep paralysis.
 
Ive lost 15 pounds since around September as part of my goal to be healthy and eating right. I've worked on doing more Yoga and Exercises to improve the pains such as my back ones from being a bit overweight, the puerto rican gut which I'm sure many Latinos will know the suffering. I sat at around 200 pounds (5'6" for reference) when I started to make the change for good (I always gave up and failed before). I did a lot more reading and studying into good eating habits and such. I'm now at 185 since yesterday and steadily going towards my goal of 175 at a good rate without overexertion, visibly seeing the gut start to fade. I read an interview with 50 cent in a muscle and fitness magazine that goals are good but if you don't have a realistic timeframe then there is no point, or something like that I forgot the exact wording. By April I'm hoping to sit at 180 or less and it's been looking great so far. That interview / quote really stuck with me and good to live by personally.

I'm almost done paying off a small college loan I took for a certificate class through focusing my finances towards debt and not buying crap, for better terms. I was never a big spender or someone who liked to shop for stuff but I've made sure to put any excess money into that to pay it off more quickly.
 
lifes been pretty good as of late, ive been coming out of my shell so to speak with a lot of people both online and irl which has helped me make new friends and better my existing friendships. i havent been doing anything too big besides just trying to get involved in discussion on discord and hanging out with people more often irl but the regular social interaction has had a very noticeable positive effect on my mental health which im very happy for.
 
it's not that big but, I finally know what I want to major in (Interactive media design) after struggling to find my passion for a long time and also I guess I finally have the confidence to open up a bit more.
 
University's just started over here in Aus - I'm happy I got in at all given that I did basically fuck all in high school last year. I've basically spent the entire month leading up to this going out and making new friends; similar to Pilo above it's been great for my mental health. I've signed myself up for a lot of stuff, so hopefully I'll be able to find some kind of balance between socialising, extra-curricular activities, and studying... oh, and sleep.
 
King UU said:
after years of being terrified of how I was going to make it in this world, I finally got a big boy job at a big 5 canadian bank with some of the best benefits and incentives I've ever seen in my life. as someone who desperately wants a family down the road (literally my reason for living), this is the biggest thing that's happened in my entire life.

when I tell people about my current financial situation, I tell them that I've got my silver ticket, and in the next 5 years I'll do everything in my power to get that golden ticket.

my ex girlfriend of three years and I are finally talking on good terms after one of the worst breakups of all time. not that we're going to end up back together, but closure is always really good. I finally showed her all the music I've made since we've broken up. Being able to tell someone that they're an inspiration after all that bitterness, whether good or bad, is a really profound experience.

a few other good tidbits recentyourbut I won't bore you guys.

one more thing, winning UU open really meant a lot to me... this was literally my biggest tournament goal since joining the UU tour scene in 2014/2015.

life is good in general.
Click to expand...

Glad you got to achieve your UU open goal at my expense, I can never look at a waterfall the same way without flinching.

Life isn't so bad though...

FB_IMG_1488075260855.jpg
 
faint said:
Over the past few years this forum has slowly turned into a discussion board for depression and other not-fun things in life. Everybody goes through shit in life, so let's set that stuff aside for a moment, and instead post something positive about our lives for once.

I've managed to keep a steady, healthy weight for over 4 years after losing a second person back in 2012.
Click to expand...

Wait, isn't that what Facebook is for? I thought we stuck with depressing topics here because we mutually agreed that it's depressing to be constantly flooded with (and comparing ourselves to) the best 10% of all our friends' lives?
 
Chou Toshio said:
Wait, isn't that what Facebook is for? I thought we stuck with depressing topics here because we mutually agreed that it's depressing to be constantly flooded with (and comparing ourselves to) the best 10% of all our friends' lives?
Click to expand...
I think the point is that despite all the shit we go through, there are always positives to focus on, and this thread is focusing on the positives in people's lives, which is hardly a bad thing.

Despite my post, I'm still going through a ton of stuff myself; however, having a place where we can remind ourselves that we're still good human beings that can accomplish things is a great way to re-charge our batteries and help us mentally prepare for more of those ongoing challenges. We struggle, but we persevere... which is why we have those other threads in the first place: to help those who are struggling and help them persevere.

No need to dichotomize the purpose of these threads.
 
King UU said:
I think the point is that despite all the shit we go through, there are always positives to focus on, and this thread is focusing on the positives in people's lives, which is hardly a bad thing.

Despite my post, I'm still going through a ton of stuff myself; however, having a place where we can remind ourselves that we're still good human beings that can accomplish things is a great way to re-charge our batteries and help us mentally prepare for more of those ongoing challenges. We struggle, but we persevere... which is why we have those other threads in the first place: to help those who are struggling and help them persevere.

No need to dichotomize the purpose of these threads.
Click to expand...

To clarify, didn't mean to shoot down the thread's purpose-- I just wanted to make a comment half-joking, half-real about how social media affects people's self-image.

Also I think a thread like this in an anonymous community has a different impact from a news feed from real life aquaintances semi-blogs.
 
I recently found out I don't have cancer and got a pretty sick looking scar from it.

3 years ago I started college, majoring in Pscyhology. I love Psych, but I hated learning it in school.
A year ago, I switched schools and majors. About 6 months before that, I met my girlfriend.
Switching schools and majors was the best decision I've ever made. I'm now a Graphic Design major at an experiential college and I love it. I was never much one for lectures and tests and studying for ungodly amounts of hours. Working with fake clients, doing project after project of hands-on experience, learning genuine presenting and communication skills and actually getting genuine criticism and feedback on my work is better than anything lectures and memorizing material could have taught me. The whole "Anyone can learn Photoshop" thing is true, but not going to a good college means you miss out on the other 50% of the job (and the other like 300 programs you need...).

Besides that, my girlfriend and I have plans to move in together in the near future, I've gotten a better part time job (somewhere in between a shitty fast food job and an actual career job which is nice). I've lost weight and have been MUUUUUUUUUCH more active than I used to be (not that I was ever overweight, I just wanted to get in better shape).

Life's not perfect, but it's better than it was 2 years ago.
 
Not much more than twenty minutes ago, I arrived home from my first day at university in more than two years. I had previously studied Science in '13, '14, but a lack of direction, passion for the course, an inability to assimilate with university life, and a generally poor attitude prevented me from doing well. After a two-year hiatus from the school, I decided to return and study Commerce.

I know it's only my first day and there's a long road ahead of me, but it feels different this time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time today, I was more open, I met people, and I approached the day with enthusiasm and confidence. I really feel like I can make a go of it this time.

Adding to that, I recently moved. It was an extremely stressful process, but I am definitely reaping the rewards for my hard work. I live with my best friend, and we can do anything we want now (within reason). I've spent a lot of time with him and my other friends recently, and it's made me really feel good.

Additionally, I'm about to go on holiday to Melbourne very soon with some other friends to play Pokemon TCG. Should be a good time!
 
Chou Toshio said:
To clarify, didn't mean to shoot down the thread's purpose-- I just wanted to make a comment half-joking, half-real about how social media affects people's self-image.

Also I think a thread like this in an anonymous community has a different impact from a news feed from real life aquaintances semi-blogs.
Click to expand...

Part of the reason I named this thread what I did is because it's common for people to exaggerate their life problems to make their life look worse than it really is. It's like a reverse pissing contest.
 
faint said:
Part of the reason I named this thread what I did is because it's common for people to exaggerate their life problems to make their life look worse than it really is. It's like a reverse pissing contest.
Click to expand...

Exactly, was going along with that humor.
 
I started my new job working on star citizen three months ago and recently passed my probation. I also won a small VGC premier challenge last weekend. Making new friends in this city is taking a while but I'm slowly getting there.
 
Family moved to Mexico about 6 years ago. It's been one thing after another ever since. The latest mountain we've had to overcome is my mother battling cancer. I moved back in with her and my 5 younger sisters to keep a closer eye on them, and it was quite an emotional roller coaster....I'm proud of the way she handled it. I was a complete mess for the first few months, but she never showed any fear. She had the surgery to remove the cancer from her chest a few weeks back and is gradually regaining her strength now

Currently we're running a small family-owned bakery for healthy food things, and it's doing pretty well....Being close to my family has helped me reconnect with alot of old friends and with myself. I've started writing music and doing art things, and I am frustratingly split on which one to focus on :p

All in all....Things are pretty ok for now. Pretty content with life, but I would not be opposed to a change in scenery....It's nice being around people who have something in common with me, but Scrappy is more the nomadic type
 
I had shit service at Pizza Hut today. Like God awful Someone had to have quit mid-shift. The phone was constantly ringing. No tables were cleaned off, and it took an hour for my pizza to come out and be beaten to shit.

But I'm happy because they knew their service was so shitty that they gave the pizza to me for free and even gave me a free salad.
 
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