What if,, caution, some have expeirnce in this

I bet most of us have taught our kids how to swim at one point in their lives.
But if I saw my child going under and not coming up, Im in that water 1 second later.

Things are tough all over. I hope new jobs start popping up for everyone who needs them, and wants them.

My BIL puts in tons of overtime, double shifts at the airport, and my SIL works overtime and does extra jobs and they are just scraping by with kids in college.

i can see where we need to teach our offspring survival on there own to some extent and more ways than one.. as for moving in, if the need arises, i too would open the door to them but they would do all they could to help out as a group effort..i saw bobs daughter and grand daughter and her husband and they arent leaching off mom and dad ,,its just tough out there in some areas more than most comprehend, till yur in it..

I found myself retired at 48 yrs old. Not by choice, but basically forced out when i hit the 30 year mark. It greatly helped financially that my wife is a RN, so I told her; "hey honey, I put in my 30 years so now it's your turn" I'm not really sure if she found that humorous but she had been wanting to go back to work for years.

I have been thinking about this a lot and am working at re-inventing myself to maybe do some new kind of work. I did make a few decisions. I will never work in a thankless job again. If I can't feel like I am contributing and enjoying my work then then I wont be there. I don't want to punch a clock again. (although I do that on the neighbors farm when I work there occasionally) I have the benefit of having some flexibility there.

I think it is important to look at your habits and see if you might change some of them. Habits = our character and one can grow as a person when you manage to change some of them. Things like crashing in front of the T.V. and zoning out can be changed into getting some tasks done.
Limiting your computer time and spending time helping others instead, like in my case, reading a book to the kids.

I like Ron's idea of writing down your life's story. I am writing a book not related to my life but about something I am passionate about. The point I am trying to make is that if you improve your character then you feel better about yourself and are ultimately more employable. I have looked at the unexpected demise of my career as an opportunity not a curse. I had to let go of the bitterness of the job loss so it wouldn't poison my spirit.

I think a positive attitude is one of your best assets. I was talking to a friend recently and he dropped an idea on me that could prove to be a career that will make more money for my family than I ever thought possible. There is a big challenge involved in that I have to invent and build a machine that has never been built. So now I have a challenge to work on. This challenge does fit my skill set from my previous career so I am going to give it a good try. Even if it doesn't work out I will learn something from the challenge and move on.

I think Paul has made a very good point. The key is a positive attitude. We all have skills and knowledge that we are probably not putting to use. Writing your life story is one way to identify opportunities. Another is to list up all your "skills" and be sure to think out of the box. Also, list up your likes and dislikes. Be as detailed and as broad as possible. Answers and possible strategies will emerge.

In Japanese, Ganbatte! Or, do your best! It almost always gets better. Just have a positive attitude.