27 votes

What have you done in the last ten years?

Asked in the spirit of the new decade.

I am 14, so mostly growing up and realizing that the world is probably going to enter a recession when I reach adulthood which will suck for reaching financial independence.

Going through puberty, even if it's just the beginning of it and seeing one of my cats die from kidney failure and hearing that my grandma died from cancer, which is very sad :(

21 comments

  1. [2]
    MimicSquid
    (edited )
    Link
    In the last 10 years I have: Gotten married. Purchased an ailing business and built it into something to be proud of. Finished my bachelor's degree. Drifted away from most of my early adulthood...

    In the last 10 years I have:

    • Gotten married.
    • Purchased an ailing business and built it into something to be proud of.
    • Finished my bachelor's degree.
    • Drifted away from most of my early adulthood friends and a wonderful girlfriend while giving my all to said business.
    • Had an emotional breakdown trying to handle too much by myself.
    • Recovered from said breakdown.
    • Got to know my parents as fellow adults before they started to decline into old age.
    • Adopted a dog.
    • Paid off my student loans.

    Man, a decade's a hard thing to sum up. Thank you for this. I was looking ahead at what I'm afraid is going to be a hard decade for us all, and looking back at how far I've come was comforting.

    17 votes
    1. Douglas
      Link Parent
      Congrats on your decade! That's some big stuff you accomplished! πŸŽ‰

      Congrats on your decade! That's some big stuff you accomplished! πŸŽ‰

      8 votes
  2. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. [2]
      envy
      Link Parent
      Thats kind of an odd sequence of events, given that most motorcycles are manual.

      from oldest to most recent:
      Learned how to ride a motorcycle
      Learned how to drive a manual car

      Thats kind of an odd sequence of events, given that most motorcycles are manual.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. envy
          Link Parent
          I did notice that. But then I got distracted by the second oddity. I can't imagine only just having figured out counter steering, then trying to also work out manual gear shifting.

          I did notice that.

          But then I got distracted by the second oddity.

          I can't imagine only just having figured out counter steering, then trying to also work out manual gear shifting.

          1 vote
  3. Autoxidation
    Link
    I graduated high school just before the 2008 recession, so I can definitely sympathize with your concerns about moving into the workforce during an economic downturn. A lot can happen in 10 years...

    I graduated high school just before the 2008 recession, so I can definitely sympathize with your concerns about moving into the workforce during an economic downturn.

    A lot can happen in 10 years and I guess this has been my first real decade as an adult.

    • Got married
    • Finished up a tour in the US Army
    • used my GI Bill to get a degree
    • Felt helpless after finishing school and not being able to find a decent job, despite my qualifications above other recent grads
    • Re-enlisted into the Army for a year in the hopes of it leading to said job, but it was a waste of time
    • Bounced around low paid contract work for a few years
    • Landed a good job at a national lab
    • Bought a house

    Don't despair too much @Kuromantis, despite how bleak the media can make the future seem. You really can never know where life will lead you, and you just have to do the best you can with what you have. Even then, it can all come down to luck, but we have to try to play our hand the best we can.

    12 votes
  4. [2]
    Douglas
    Link
    I lost a couple cats-- or at least my parents did, which were cats I grew up with-- as well as all three of my grandparents this decade (I never met my grandma on my mom's side). I can absolutely...

    I lost a couple cats-- or at least my parents did, which were cats I grew up with-- as well as all three of my grandparents this decade (I never met my grandma on my mom's side). I can absolutely understand your anxieties heading into the next decade.

    This is what I achieved this decade:

    • Wrote and directed a short movie that did well enough at festivals that the experience dampened a lot my self-doubts when it comes to my own creative work
    • Met my wife through OKCupid after 10 years of being single and fumbling my way through other dates
    • Just last month finally saved three months of income and paid off debts
    • Got a couple cats

    That's about it.

    Things for 2020-2030? No idea. I didn't buy a house (that's still a pipe dream), I work at a very steady but ultimately unfulfilling job while aggressively saving into a retirement account (about 12% of my paycheck)-- but as you'd said, I'm pretty sure that shit'll crash soon, and I've heard horror stories of 401ks getting liquidated when companies go bankrupt.

    We're not having kids. Too much misery is coming down the pipe between climate change and consolidation of wealth, and we're not in any financial spot to do it anyway, that it's just not a thing we're ever going to consider-- so we're "losing" a few friends that way in that they prefer to bond with couples who have kids. We'd maybe foster later in life if we're able, but right now, the decision isn't met very open-mindedly.

    The only thing that I'd like us to maybe do is move the hell out of the US; the crap healthcare system feels more like a "when" than an "if" in regards to bankrupting individuals.

    Maybe I'll learn some programming while I'm at it, that seems like all the rage nowadays.

    Anxieties ahoy.

    10 votes
    1. Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      Your story sounds similar to mine. Met wife ok OKcupid, no kids, just recently got savings built up, shoving money into retirement accounts. I've considered moving out of the US, I'm not sure I'm...

      Your story sounds similar to mine. Met wife ok OKcupid, no kids, just recently got savings built up, shoving money into retirement accounts.

      I've considered moving out of the US, I'm not sure I'm willing to make that large of a change despite all the things happening. The election this year will be a significant source of stress, and it's outcome will probably affect my mental health for at least the next 4 years.

      Edit to say that if programming interests you, there are a lot of ways to learn, and a lot of ways to apply it. I enjoy it a lot both professionally and personally.

      5 votes
  5. joplin
    Link
    I started off the decade with my spouse getting a chronic illness and us losing $100,000 in a bad real estate purchase. Surprisingly, we made up the money in the next year in other investments,...

    I started off the decade with my spouse getting a chronic illness and us losing $100,000 in a bad real estate purchase. Surprisingly, we made up the money in the next year in other investments, which I was not expecting, and for which I am very grateful. My spouse, unfortunately, has not gotten better.

    At work, we released a groundbreaking but very controversial product at the beginning of the decade and lost a lot of our customers. By the end of the decade we had not only made it up, but doubled our user base.

    My wife and I lost our 2nd dog in the first half of the decade, but we moved on and after a couple of years years got another dog who just helped us usher in the New Year.

    I broke off contact with my parents who were constantly gas-lighting us. It's really helped me to grow as a person.

    I went to many conferences and learned a ton of stuff related to my job (which is also my passion). We bought a piano and an ukulele and I've started making music again, which is fun.

    It's funny you mention being worried about a possible recession in the coming years. I graduated college in the early 90s during a recession, and there were lots of doom and gloom reports on the news about the prospects for new grads. But the world-wide web had just been invented and took off like a rocket. It ended up being one of the best times to get a job because tech companies started hiring like crazy. If you could type or draw, you could get a job working on someone's web site.

    My main point being that there are ups and downs. Don't get too caught up on the downs because they're often temporary. Do yourself a favor and learn about how to stay out of debt. Through all of these things, I've never had any debt other than a mortgage with a reasonable monthly payment that I could cover for a long time if I lost my job. That helped to make the down periods easier because I didn't owe a lot of money and could invest my extra income to make it grow.

    8 votes
  6. [4]
    ali
    Link
    So I am 26 - so I guess a huge part of my life happened in the last 10 years: finished high school lived in Australia for a year (my first time away from home - life-changing) met my first...

    So I am 26 - so I guess a huge part of my life happened in the last 10 years:

    • finished high school
    • lived in Australia for a year (my first time away from home - life-changing)
    • met my first girlfriend
    • started and quit a bachelors after half a semester
    • started and finished a bachelors
    • lived in the US for half a year (for an internship)
    • started a masters
    • moved out and in with my girlfriend
    • learned programming and worked as a software engineer
    • finished my first freelance website (that was this year)
    • worked a lot of different jobs - quit a lot of jobs after a day
    • started drinking coffee
    • got glasses (only noticed I needed them when I was in a lecture hall at age 20)
    • was a private tutor to a lot of kids - 10 or so?
    7 votes
    1. [3]
      thundergolfer
      Link Parent
      How come? This seems unusual.

      quit a lot of jobs after a day

      How come? This seems unusual.

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        ali
        Link Parent
        I was backpacking in Australia and took some jobs (picking blueberries, selling fast food in a foodtruck, planting strawberries) which were just badly paid and the work conditions sucked, so I...

        I was backpacking in Australia and took some jobs (picking blueberries, selling fast food in a foodtruck, planting strawberries) which were just badly paid and the work conditions sucked, so I just left them after a day.

        1. thundergolfer
          Link Parent
          Oh right. That’s makes sense. Labour on fruit farms is notoriously horrible

          Oh right. That’s makes sense. Labour on fruit farms is notoriously horrible

          1 vote
  7. Omnicrola
    Link
    Wow, a lot to contemplate in the last 10 years. I have: Quit the business I was part owner of Moved across country with girlfriend Married said girlfriend Almost got divorced Helped (am still...

    Wow, a lot to contemplate in the last 10 years. I have:

    • Quit the business I was part owner of
    • Moved across country with girlfriend
    • Married said girlfriend
    • Almost got divorced
    • Helped (am still helping) my wife work through a ton of mental health issues
    • Gotten a job doing software development despite having no experience and no degree
    • Changed cars 3 times (all used)
    • Started playing in a RPG/tabletop group that has been meeting once a week for about 8 years now with rare exceptions
    • Had 4 cats pass away, just got 2 more yesterday
    • Started seeing a therapist and grappling with my own mental health
    • Bought a house
    • Built up enough savings to survive about 3-4 months without a job
    • Started investing in an independent RothIRA
    • Made many new friends, lost touch with old friends
    • Deleted Facebook
    • Became politically engaged
    • Read a lot of books (should get back to doing that more)
    • Started creating a bunch of games, never finished any
    7 votes
  8. thundergolfer
    Link
    10 years ago I was 18, so this decade has been pretty significant for me. I've: 2010 - 🏫 Finished high-school. Was middle of the road in my year (academic-selective school though) and got pretty...

    10 years ago I was 18, so this decade has been pretty significant for me. I've:

    • 2010 - 🏫 Finished high-school. Was middle of the road in my year (academic-selective school though) and got pretty cynical and lazy near the end.
    • 2011-2013 - πŸŽ“ Graduated with an undergraduate Architecture degree, but that 3 years was largely unsuccessful and I have not pursued architecture.
    • 2011-2013 - When not learning Architecture I was learning a lot about a broad range of topics. I feel in this period at least I did give myself a basic foundation in Philosophy, Sociology, Finance, Economics, and Design.
    • 2013-2015 - πŸ’Ÿ First serious relationship
    • 2014 - πŸ’° Worked my arse off in the services industry, thinking a lot about my future. Figured out personal finance, achieving a personal milestone of saving $40k AUD in 6 months which was the result of building a strong work ethic and watching my spending.
    • 2015 - πŸŽ—Made first Effective Altruist donation of a few thousand dollars.
    • 2015-2019 - πŸŽ“ Did another undergraduate degree in Software Engineering. Worked my arse off for 4 more years, but this time coding rather than serving tables. Has turned out a very good move so far.
    • 2016-2017 - Internships, at Zendesk then Atlassian
    • 2017 - 🏠 Moved out with two best friends from school.
    • 2017 - 🌾 Went Vegetarian
    • 2018-2019 - πŸ“š Started reading seriously again (~15-20 books a year)
    • 2018 - πŸŽ— Committed to Effective Altruism (10% of pre-tax salary at the moment)
    • 2018-2019 - Became way more of a lefty. Started caring a lot more about Animal welfare, Climate Change, and inequality. Can say I've significantly changed my day-to-day life now because of my beliefs and values.
    • 2018-2019 - 🦡had major leg surgery, lengthening my femur by 4cm. It fucking sucked.
    • 2019 - πŸ‡¦πŸ‡Ί Moved to Sydney, to work at Canva.
    5 votes
  9. callmedante
    Link
    This is an interesting exercise. In roughly chronological order: Moved with my wife from one side of the US to the other Adopted our dog Bought my first (and last) new car Bought our first house...

    This is an interesting exercise. In roughly chronological order:

    • Moved with my wife from one side of the US to the other
    • Adopted our dog
    • Bought my first (and last) new car
    • Bought our first house
    • Discovered a massive leak two weeks later that required the entire first floor to be re-floored
    • Got my first smartphone, much to the chagrin of the dog
    • My dog that I raised from a pup in highschool (and still lived with my mother) died
    • Traveled to the UK and Ireland, the first time I've crossed the Atlantic
    • Checked a role off my bucket list: Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
    • Was part of a company that produced both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America
    • Traveled to Italy
    • Went to grad school... after having paid off all debt except the mortgage
    • Birth of our child, the greatest thing I've ever had a hand in
    • Co-directed Romeo and Juliet with my wife
    • After years of auditioning, landed a role at a major regional theatre
    • Paternal grandfather died, the patriarch of that side of the family
    • Traveled to Italy again, this time with our one-and-a half-year-old
    • Maternal grandmother died, after years of battling dementia
    • Got a migraine New Year's Eve 2019, in bed by 9:00

    Looking back, I've had a very fortunate decade. This is nice to help put things in perspective. Thank you @Kuromantis for the suggestion.

    2 votes
  10. Icarus
    Link
    Graduated high school Moved for undergrad Got a dog Finished my undergrad in 2.5 years Ended a 3 year relationship Spent 6 months working at a research institute Went to grad school Finished an...
    • Graduated high school
    • Moved for undergrad
    • Got a dog
    • Finished my undergrad in 2.5 years
    • Ended a 3 year relationship
    • Spent 6 months working at a research institute
    • Went to grad school
    • Finished an internship across the country
    • Finished grad school
    • Took a job in Memphis, TN
    • Ended a 2 year relationship
    • Quit job and moved to California
    • Dog died from lung cancer
    • Got new job in the SF Bay Area
    • Got engaged
    • Got promoted
    • Now looking for better housing for my fiance out of the suburbs and more in a downtown environment

    And I am where I am now. Working, engaged to a wonderful woman, and enjoying life. A lot of where I am and who I am with is all purely from luck I think. Although I can say that many steps along the way were goals that I set for myself and was able to accomplish them. I try to be as flexible with my expectations as possible so as when things don't go my way I can see it as just a journey along the path I am on.

    I will say that high school me, and even 14 year old me, is radically different than who I am now. Your views and values will change along the way. My advice is to watch and learn from others. Try to let others make mistakes and learn from them but don't be afraid to make mistakes yourself.

    2 votes
  11. LoanWolf
    Link
    A lot happened in my decade from age 26 to 36: 2011 Saw Rammstein in concert - best show I've ever seen 2011 Separated from my wife 2012 Got divorced 2012 Met my future wife 2012 Officially got my...

    A lot happened in my decade from age 26 to 36:

    • 2011 Saw Rammstein in concert - best show I've ever seen
    • 2011 Separated from my wife
    • 2012 Got divorced
    • 2012 Met my future wife
    • 2012 Officially got my professional engineering designation
    • 2013 Bought and played a lot of Space Alert, my first good modern board game
    • 2013 A flood that destroyed most of my future wife's stuff
    • 2013 Bought a 100 year old house with my future wife
    • 2013 Got engaged
    • 2014 Started designing board games
    • 2014 Started hosting board game nights
    • 2014 Ran my first Spartan Race
    • 2014 Mexico trip with fiancee and family
    • 2014 Went to my first board game convention
    • 2015 Went to my first board game convention outside my home town of Calgary
    • 2015 Got married!
    • 2015 Went to Mexico for our honeymoon
    • 2016 Grandma died
    • 2016 Left a software engineering job I'd been at for 10 years
    • 2016 Found a new job doing software development for energy billing
    • 2016 Went to my first US board game convention - one of my game designs wins an award there
    • 2016 Signed 5 games with publishers
    • 2017 Won a game design award with a different game
    • 2017 Started working for a major board game publisher
    • 2017 Another Mexico trip
    • 2017 Bought and moved into a new house
    • 2017 My first board game is released
    • 2017 Laid off from energy billing job - full time game design career begins!
    • 2018 My second game is released
    • 2018 Third game is released
    • 2018 Left North America for the first time for a trip to Essen Germany for the biggest board game convention in the world
    • 2019 Ran my first half-marathon
    2 votes
  12. aphoenix
    Link
    Someone asked me this the other day, and I had a distressing lack of answers that were about personal accomplishments. I had two children (and one from the decade before that) I supported my wife...

    Someone asked me this the other day, and I had a distressing lack of answers that were about personal accomplishments.

    • I had two children (and one from the decade before that)
    • I supported my wife through acquiring her PhD, postdoc, and tenure track faculty position
    • I worked a lot
    • I built a nice shed in my backyard
    • I did a lot of programming and work, but none of it was particularly interesting or worthy of discussion
    1 vote
  13. [3]
    unknown user
    Link
    10 years ago I was 15. finished high school started uni for the first time (Romano-Germanic Philology) met my first girlfriend, started a relationship had sex for the first time broke up with the...

    10 years ago I was 15.

    • finished high school
    • started uni for the first time (Romano-Germanic Philology)
    • met my first girlfriend, started a relationship
    • had sex for the first time
    • broke up with the first girlfriend
    • had good sex for the first time (with a different person)
    • began to realize just how different I am from most of the people I meet
    • had a months-long streak of writing very short stories (first time writing anything – let alone something finished – since I was 13)
    • passed my first uni-level exams (legs were shaking all the way through)
    • quit uni (was very anxious to do this because my parents paid for it; worked out okay)
    • had a couple of odd jobs (mostly spent time doing nothing of value due to depression and general lack of life skills and purpose)
    • passed exams for a slightly-different profile (English Linguistics) in a different uni (met my half-brother, saw his successful life, thought I wanted the same for myself, figured it would have to go through uni and higher education)
    • moved to a different city to go to the uni
    • met a bunch of cool people and took part is some cool events, but was still depressed most of the time
    • started fiddling with web design while still in the uni
    • started keeping lists of Songs of the Year
    • started dating more actively, though nothing came out of it
    • started spending more time with people, in general
    • began to realize what was it that I wanted from life (living elsewhere in the world, doing something I love, around people who care about me)
    • saw Avengers: Infinity War and decided to quit uni after three years and one year away from graduation (still not sure what happened there, but one followed from another, and it's a sequence of events worth documenting)
    • moved back to my hometown, to an apartment my parents bought for me
    • worked passionately on a freelance project that ended in nothing (got paid for the work, though)
    • had an existential crisis, questioned my life hard, came out of it more determined
    • found a few things I'm excited to work on, including Intergrid
    1 vote
    1. [2]
      Kuromantis
      Link Parent
      :/

      had sex for the first time

      had good sex for the first time, with a different person

      :/

      1. unknown user
        Link Parent
        My first sexual experience was terrible. I was a horny 17-year-old, not yet aware of what having sex actually entails (as in, the relationship with the other person, the emotional and physical...

        My first sexual experience was terrible.

        I was a horny 17-year-old, not yet aware of what having sex actually entails (as in, the relationship with the other person, the emotional and physical connection, the intimacy and the ensuing vulnerability...). No one there to teach me that, either. Most of my experience up to this point was from porn, and I had not yet realized that porn is pure gratification, not a source of education.

        My girlfriend didn't have it in her to handle my distress and performance anxiety. We just left things where they were, without a discussion or a suggestion. Thankfully, I was still too horny to care; it would've been traumatizing otherwise.

        It took a different girl – who was open, honest, and patient with me – to help me understand my sexuality and what sex really can be.

        1 vote