Life lessons.

Oh Luckygirl I couldn't agree more! Just as I know how to do stuff....I can't climb ladders, lift things or dig a garden bed!

The lesson that just as we become free to do what we want, our bodies go into revolt and stop us doing it, is a bitter lesson, but one that others have identified.

We had no sooner retired than OH got PD and then I fell and messed up my mobility for good.

So I tell my children to do the things they want now and not to delay!

I've learned you never know what is round the corner. DH got heart failure following heart attacks after a 7 hour op, so I try to appreciate what we do have, even in the small everyday things and each Christmas, birthday and anniversary is a bonus.

I have learned to think before I speak and not to rush in. Also to be more tolerant of others.......not a saint however!!!!

Not to trust everyone and not to say 'yes' to everyone's requests.

What have I learned from life?
It goes on too long

To quote the bard

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps on this petty life from day to day 'til the last syllable of recorded time! Etc

Indi I understand your sentiments completely. When you have been active and working and then your health begins to take all that away, it is a painful and frustrating time in your life.

Don't apologise jings, I am with you on this. It is so bloody frustrating that now, just when I have time to do all the things I couldn't do when I worked full time, my poor health prevents me. And it's only going to get worse. Yes, I have learnt this too.
But I do try, most of the time, to not let it get me down. I try to find other things I can do which my health will allow. Not going to pretend that that makes it all right though. It doesn't.

Jingl I can empathise with your sentiments. I am not even a pensioner and have a ways to go. I already have health problems and at the moment feel that since about September have had one health issue after another. Even my friends cannot believe how unlucky I have been.
I now have quite a serious issue with my eye, which am still receiving treatment for and I am a bit scared. This all came right out of the blue.

I have learnt some very hard lessons and now take nothing and no one for granted.
If I have learned anything I guess it would be 'Take each day as it comes'. I think it will have to be my personal motto as for me healthwise, no two days are the same.
I am grateful to be able to still go out and about and have mobility. Friends and family are a great support, and I try not to weigh everybody down with all my woes. I try to stay positive but at times could just gladly crawl into a corner. No one ever knows how I really feel.

I have learnt that older age brings failing health which can take away the pleasures you have always enjoyed. And there is sod-all anyone can do about it.

Sorry for the downer.

There always seems to be another lesson we have to learn. And past lessons become irrelevant.

I have learned that life is never easy, not for anyone. We all have our ups and downs and every time we have a problem it is our responsibility to find the solution, no-one else's. And finding the solution helps us to grow as a person.
One of my favourite poems, "There's a Hole in my Sidewalk" by Portia Nelson:

“I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.”

I have learnt that my instincts are usually right although I am sometimes too much of a ninny to go with them.

I have learnt that even the worst day is only 24 hours long . Each new dawn brings the potentially to make it better.

Main lesson I've learned is that it's people that matter not things. Also, from my lovely dad, no point worrying about stuff until it happens.

I think that I have learned that the only one you can really rely on is yourself, then you are not disappointed by others.
Also, patience, ,"everything comes to he who waits" it is some times a long time coming but it eventually does,

I have learned to roll with the punches,take each day as it comes,and judge no one,I am a cheerful little soul 99% of the time

Although I do wish that one or two of my more pessimistic friends had learned that too !

For me, the main life lesson is that when really big ( as in bad) things happen in the family, not 'sweating the small stuff' is the way to go.So no worrying about perceived slights, forgotten birthday cards, colds, etc.

For me its all about planning and being organised but being flexible when things don't go quite to plan.

I agree ruby but difficult to be positive when everything around you seems to be falling apart, that is when good friends come to the front.

I have learnt that happiness, in some cases, is a choice. Of course health and financial worries can prevent it but for most people it is possible to choose to be positive or to be negative.

epiphany, sorry, tired now