The end of another decade...

Dionysos

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Somehow the 2010s are coming to an end.
I suspect I have travelled through time or something because that's the only way I can explain how I've somehow almost reached 2020. :argor:

What has the last decade been like for you? Kind? Horrible? Mixed?

Are you looking forward to the next decade?

-

For myself it has been a bit of a roller-coaster of good twists combined with bad, sudden, jerky ones and then some boring flat bits which have remained very much the same.

On the bad side my closest friend died and I survived a house fire. So I lost a great deal this decade. I'm terribly sentimental and don't like throwing anything away, so losing things which I have memories attached to has been a hard thing to learn to deal with. I did okay at the time and powered through it, but it has left me thinking a lot.

On the good side, my niece and nephew were born. KupoCon became a thing and through that I have met some truly remarkable people and I finally had an excuse to enjoy my fandom outdoors in the real world. There have also been some absolutely incredible games, films and TV shows this decade (I will not bore anyone with a list and I haven't got time to list them all anyway, but I think a lot of people will agree that some amazing things have been thrown at us lately). A number of other good things too but I can't really recall them all in a hurry right now.

On the flat side I'm not happy with where I am right now in my personal life, etc, and feel like I'm being left behind by my peers. I'm taking steps but I feel like I'm taking these steps in the middle of the ocean instead of on land. The rule-book has disintegrated in the seawater so I'm just guessing. I guess that's all anyone can do!


But 2020 calls! A new decade is a good excuse to make some changes and plan things differently.
 
The last decade has been a huge mixture of ups and downs. I started the decade in school still - I was two years away from college. I headed to college in 2012, in fact, and studied Computing (basically computer science). There were some of the highlights there.

I graduated with a first and got a job before leaving - I've since gotten a bunch of promotions and recently transferred to a new department.

My sisters both have had children; two of my nephews towards the beginning of the decade and my newest niece only 11 days ago. I love being an uncle (I'm the fun, relaxed one!).

But towards the end of the decade it all kinda hit the fan. I broke up with a person I loved very much at Christmas 2016. My father died in 2017; I miss him every day. The shockwaves of his death hit all of my family rather hard - my brother especially. I became something of a mess for 2018 - most of my family did. My brother encountered some finance issues, got into trouble with some people and ultimately it impacted me in a couple ways; emotionally, financially. It changed me in a way that nothing else has. I'm a different person now - it's taken a while to realise that. I didn't like the person I was for a long chunk of this time; selfishness, meanness and generally being horrid.

But coming to the end of 2019, everything is on the rise. I've since gotten help, I stopped drinking and fucking around like I had been; my brother found his way to another country to start life anew. We're all still pushing through without my dad - but I feel hopeful, optimistic. I hope for the best in my heart for everyone I care about. I'm trying to connect with friends again. I tell people I love them; that they matter a whole bunch to me. I've always been afraid of that; not anymore.

I want to see the new 20's be a time of happiness, of growth. I want to become a better person - to better myself and be a better friend to those I care most about. I want to see my family grow; for my sisters continue to excel, for my brothers growing as people. I wanna find actual love again! I want a lot of things for my friends, my family.
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Outside of the personal areas: I'm hoping for some improvement in the climate; for corporations to be held accountable for what they contribute to the decline of the planet. I feel like sometimes that people are disengaged in each other - there's a selfish, me-first attitude. I really would love to see the 20's erode and work on this throughout society.

Bring on the next decade! Bring on the new year!!
 
The last decade has been very plentiful for me, though 2019 has been very hard.

The highlights:

In 2010 I met my now husband, later moved into an apartment with him and started a new job.
In 2013 I got engaged, moved into a mobile home, got married, got my first pet/cat, got into a car accident I was very fortunate to walk away from and then bought a new (to me) car.
in 2014 I got another cat, left my job for a betterish one.. then left that job for a betterer job.
in 2015 I went on my first actual vacation in several years and then later that year bought our first new car, then later that year my nephew was born.
in 2016 I went on the same vacation spot again, found out my mother-in-law had kidney cancer, later got p r e g a n t e, then bought a house at the end of the year.
in 2017 I had my baby, then shortly after we took in our latest cat that had fallen into my mom's pond.
in 2018 I worked for a different company doing the same job after they bought us out.
in 2019 I left the work force to attend to my spawn, Joined FFF, found out 4 different members of my family have serious health conditions (including my mother), and then just this current month lost my mother-in-law to cancer.


The details in-between are, for the most part, fairly sweet memories. It's funny because I clearly remember 2009 being a very good year, but it really was the end of a decade both chronologically and for myself personally. I guess really it's just because I entered 'adulthood' if you will. 2010 was just a huge pivoting point for me in my life, and I'm hoping 2020 will be the same.

The closer we got to 2020 though I have to say have been hard. I haven't been necessarily 'depressed' but I've been very uphappy on and off the last year+. My mother in law passing has made me very numb the last few weeks. I haven't had much experience with death and seeing my husband struggle with her passing has been very hard as well. I'm also at a very trying age with my goblin as he's in the middle of his terrible 2's & soon to be 3's.

I don't know what the next decade will hold but I'm hoping for a better year at least. I'm tired, my husband is tired, my entire family is tired. It's kinda silly but with FF7 Remake & Animal Crossing coming out here soon I kinda feel like it'll be starting on a better note. I'm hoping my husband can find a better job, or one that is at least on a day shift schedule. I know it's what he wants and I really think it'll make things easier on us as a family.


Happy new year everyone, I hope you all have a better decade to come and that you all stay happy and healthy.
 
I prefer to think year-to-year, but I guess I'll bite.

The 10's were probably the most significant years of my life. There were plenty of milestones that happened, sometimes overlapping one another. I was already in my career's first job, but changed jobs twice, the second being for the best at the time. Other than that, plenty of firsts.

2010: Met my future wife, on these here forums. She moves in with me late in that year.
2012: Get laid off from job, but managed to land on my feet and missed a week of work. And in that week out of work, me and my wife got engaged and purchased our first house. 4 months later, we get married. Another 6 months later, I get laid off again, but remain out of work for 6 months this time around. Talk about a roller coaster year
2013: We welcome our first child, an adorable little girl. 2 months later, daddy manages to land a job, which I'm still at today (but hopefully for not much longer).
2014: We welcome our second child, the little man.
2015: My family suffers a significant death.
2016: We sell our house and upsize to a new house, with the growing kids and all.
2017: My family suffers another significant death. My direct boss passes away, which might not seem significant, but it alters my trajectory at work, along with other events, for the worse. Late in the year, we welcome our 3rd child, our second princess.

The rest of decade went tame overall. So there were plenty of things that happened. I managed to finish off the last 2 major adulthood accomplishments I was shooting for, a family and a house (I already had career achieved). For my next thing I hope to achieve further in adulthood I'd like to accumulate wealth. I would like to start my own business, hopefully sooner rather than later. This would help wealth accumulation. Then things like sending the kids off the college and building retirement can be achieved. From this point forward, I just want to support my family and hope to live comfortably (not rich, just well off).
 
Condolences to all those who lost loved and close ones.

It was a bid of an odd decade for me - it either felt like it was going full throttle or stagnated; albeit, it was thankfully a good decade on the whole. I will get the bad bits out of the way first though:

There have been a couple of downsides coming out of the last couple of years though. My cousin lost her nine year old daughter to a rare disease (thought it was the flu but went straight to her brain and sadly passed away without warning) which obviously impacted that side of the family very, very badly. Grandparents are starting to show their age now (grandma is late 80s and grandad is early 90s and suffering early dementia) so it's inevitable this decade they will probably pass away, BUT, when it does happen, they have lived a full and happy life so should be celebrated for that rather than mourned!

For the better aspects:

Started the decade off in summer 2010 by graduating from college and making the 300+ mile move from North Yorkshire to Canterbury (chose the university for the worst reasons - because my then-girlfriend was going there, then we broke up just before university started (only together for about a year)). Moved into a mixed gender dorm with the most diverse bunch of folk you could meet; two of whom are now my closest friends.

Generally speaking, 2011 was largely uneventful other than the generic university lifestyle: sleep, eat, sleep, eat, pre-drinks, party, eat, post-drinks, sleep, lecture. Rinse and repeat. Had to find new accommodation at university as dorms only accommodate first year students; moved from our four bedroom dorm to a six bedroom house which included another of my close friends. Met my then-girlfriend when I went back home for summer and came back to university for second year.

Reconvened with generic university activity again in 2011/2012, but more eating, drinking, sleeping and less lectures. Met new friends, one of whom is now my fiancée. Broke up with my then-girlfriend in the summer as she was moving abroad and started dating my fiancée in the fall of 2012. I'm not a believer in fate in the slightest, but I do feel my fiancée and I were meant to be. We became very close during 2012 and separated from our partners during the same summer without realising the other had done it until we returned for the final year of university (nothing to do with becoming close, either). Ironically, I chose my university for the worst reason and came out of it finding the best. Visited Turkey with my fiancée and a couple of friend during with winter.

Started early 2013 by going on a trip with my law classmates: Strasbourg, Brugge, Den Haag and Amsterdam visiting various serious European Courts and European Parliament and getting high (first and last time I've ever smoked anything at all, because, you know... Amsterdam). Graduated with a upper-second class degree in law (68%). Part of me fully believes I could have hit the first-class (70%) if I'd not missed anywhere near as many lectures, but I found the best friends, a fiancée and loved life so I wouldn't take any of it back. Decided I didn't want to go into the legal profession when I moved back home to North Yorkshire, so got my first ever job (out of choice) in the hospitality industry on the night-shift doing reception & accounts in fall 2013.

The next few years was generally going through the motions of everyday life for the most part, with the odd exceptions:

2014 - girlfriend moved up from Canterbury to live with me.
2014 - promoted and moved into the actual accounts department after a year on night-shift.
2015 - went to Venice on holiday and a couple of music festivals.
2016 - went to Japan on holiday (my favourite country) staying in Tokyo and visiting Kyoto, Ghibli Museum and Disneyland (amongst A LOT more places).
2016 - got our first pet; a lionhead cross Netherland dwarf rabbit.
2017 - went to Cape Verde and Santorini on holiday.
2017 - got our second pet; a mini lop rabbit.
2017 - fiancée went travelling around Asia; tough at first but eventually got easier with time. Purchased an engagement ring the week after she left for Asia.

When 2018 came around, life generally started rolling again and stopped being stagnant barring the odd event. Got promoted again in Spring 2018 to accounts executive and my fiancée came back from travelling in July 2018 - we decided by December 2018 that we had all our deposit and house furnishing finances together to buy our first house. There were a few minor issues from my fiancée's side which stopped the mortgage going through but as it was a new estate we moved onto the 2019 planning phase instead. Little set back which was quickly forgotten when I took my fiancée to Edinburgh a week before Christmas and proposed! Best day ever, so far.

Then 2019 became year of the house:

We went back to the estate agent n April 2019 as advised and got our mortgage in principle and put our name next to a house... which keeps getting delayed. October 2019 rolled in and the house was still delayed so we were offered one of the show rooms - great, except my fiancée's workplace went into administration at the same time so we couldn't get a mortgage... just after she was promoted to manager, too. Typical, as the company is now on the verge on being bought out of administration... so we're back to original delayed house haha. I do expect a lot of movement on this front in 2020 though.

Happy new year and new decade to all!
 
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