Unable to plan for the future

[Au Naturel]

@Au Naturel,
Thank you that is a welcome perspective.

Earlier today I was joking with my husband that we are going to move to the Ozarks and I will take up noodling and become a champion noodler at the age of 86. For our international friends please watch the video below to understand the joke.

When I saw her forearm I thought she's been physically abused. I was right - but it was probably a catfish that did it. One day of that and you'd have meat for a month.

I'd probably be the one "nudling."

 

[Gracey]

Maybe this will help: I am a visual thinker. I picture everything. My grocery list is a picture of eggs, a bottle of juice, a tomato. When I write my list I walk through the store and see where each item is located.

If I am going somewhere new, I look up pictures of the destination and I see myself there. If I can't see myself there I have tremendous anxiety and dread and I won't go. I can also just use my imagination to make up pictures about something I haven't experienced but only if I have a way to connect that imagined image to something in real life. My imagination must have some context.

So, when I was younger, I could not imagine what I wanted to do because I had no context for it.
I had no context for "retirement" or "disease". I especially had no context to imagine any of these things out of present time.

I think in pictures most of the time too
My grocery list will look a lot like yours. Same method. Like a game of 'matching pairs'
Image in mind. See matching 'image' on shelves - out of an aisle of several hundred products. Throw in trolley, hunt for next image. Shopping at great speed
... unless I get distracted by visual input from my surroundings when shopping.
I can't recall and match items on shelves to items required if I'm having to process incoming 'pictures' from environment.
(going off on tangent, sorry. )


I never had a career in mind when younger. Didn't visualise my doing anything in particular. Just kinda rolled with it.
If I was curious enough, I'd learn about it then go for it. Whatever it was.
Job. Interest. learning to drive. whatever.
The only time I was resolute was on applying to join the military. There was no force on earth that was going to stop me.
Pre uptake I got as fit as I could and learned how to press clothes and shine footwear (figured I'd need those skills)

Other than the above, I can't recall having any kind of plan for a vocation.

 

[Au Naturel]

I think in pictures most of the time too
My grocery list will look a lot like yours. Same method. Like a game of 'matching pairs'
Image in mind. See matching 'image' on shelves - out of an aisle of several hundred products. Throw in trolley, hunt for next image. Shopping at great speed
... unless I get distracted by visual input from my surroundings when shopping.
I can't recall and match items on shelves to items required if I'm having to process incoming 'pictures' from environment.
(going off on tangent, sorry. )


I never had a career in mind when younger. Didn't visualise my doing anything in particular. Just kinda rolled with it.
If I was curious enough, I'd learn about it then go for it. Whatever it was.
Job. Interest. learning to drive. whatever.
The only time I was resolute was on applying to join the military. There was no force on earth that was going to stop me.
Pre uptake I got as fit as I could and learned how to press clothes and shine footwear (figured I'd need those skills)

Other than the above, I can't recall having any kind of plan for a vocation.

That's half the prep for basic training right there. The other half is getting used to inadequate sleep schedule and jumping to it when given an order..

 

[Gracey]

That's half the prep for basic training right there. The other half is getting used to inadequate sleep schedule and jumping to it when given an order..

Pretty much