Comments on: searching for water on mars

By: bubelah

bubelah — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:57:37 +0000

"All you need is LOVE"

1. Love for travel and new experiences.
2. Love for your significant other (husband, wife, bf, gf, etc...)
3. Love for children and childhood.
4. Love for God or higher being or religions.
5. Love for learning and knowledge.

By: bubelah

bubelah — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:57:37 +0000

By: bripblap

bripblap — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:22:53 +0000

ME, good point – but I think the experience of love is different than marriage. I love my wife but I think our experience is far different as a married couple than it is when we were dating. At both points we loved each other, but I think it's more complex now. (And I should point out that marriage is just a formality – I could be talking about a committed-living-together-couple just as easily).

But sure, I would add love at point 6, and not even just romantic love. Love in any aspect – platonic, romantic, abstract – is one of the key experiences in anyone's life.

By: bripblap

bripblap — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:18:18 +0000

Plonkee, sure, like I said I don't really think that anyone NEEDS to have kids. I just meant that if you do, it's an experience similar to any other life-changing experience. And you're right, broadening can sometimes be accomplished just as easily by sitting down in front of an internet-connected computer with an open mind.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:20:57 +0000

Well, I can say I've experienced a few of those – a long term relationship if not marriage, and definitely those parts about experiences and wonder. I definitely agree. It's always good to move into new territories, physical and mental. Some times are better than others. As Timothy Ferriss said, do what you enjoy and what makes you feel good about yourself. But in addition to (or in place of?) marriage, what about the transformative experience of love itself?

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:40:02 +0000

Deep!

Agree with all points expect children. They are not necessary for completness but they will be what carries your legacy when you are gone. They are what you leave behind, for better or worse.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:02:01 +0000

You can look at other people's children and deeply say that the experience is not for you. I have no doubt that they change your life deeply, it's just not a change that I'm interested in.

Broadening is good. Of course you don't need to leave home to do it, but you really should. Everyone, but everyone should go abroad, everyone should experience being in a visible minority, everyone should end up discussing the foreign policy of their own country with a much better informed person from elsewhere. Experience is everything.

And, if you can't get excited about new things, what's the point?

By: plonkee

plonkee — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:02:01 +0000

By: deepali

deepali — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:35:54 +0000

Good list. I would change #1 to travel, and add a separate item for “broadened experiences” – you don't have to go far to get that. Volunteering, taking classes, picking up a new hobby, being a tourist in your own town, a side job, etc, can all also broaden your horizons. But travel, I think, is unique, in that “the other” will never get so different as someone in an entirely different country.

I also think I take a broader approach to #2 and #3. I'm not married, but just being in a serious relationship can make you rethink everything you thought you knew about yourself. I think commitment to someone else changes everything. As for #3 – other people's kids can really make you rethink your priorities. I think more long-term and less about my lifetime ever since I started working in nutrition.

And I wholeheartedly feel the last two too! I often find that #4 sometimes enhances #5…

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:10:46 +0000

Oh, good one. Marriage. I married later in life (later 30s), to a major beauty queen (Miss ). I thought I was tolerant and easy-going. To my humiliation, it took me, well, far too long to become the person I thought I always was. I remain a work in progress.

And whenever I even look at another woman, I always remind myself, “Do you want to go through *that* again?”