Okay, so a recent conversation with someone in the real world just gave me the idea to start this thread here. In the interest of sharing and learning from each other of course. Thus what better place then our own village square! So what was the best & worst decision we made??? Maybe we took a decision which didn't turn out as we had expected. As a result of which, we now mostly have regret. So in the interest of not wanting someone else to make the same mistake. Why not talk about it? Or perhaps we did something a lifetime ago, or recently. Which can prove to be very beneficial for others. Like a small decision we took in the past, the windfall of which is still continuing and now adding up to something substantial - However we didn't think about sharing it, as it probably slipped from our minds - As the opportunity to talk about it never came up directly... So while it's true that we don't often get many second chances in life. But if the opportunity to talk about something we did or unfortunately didn't do hadn't come up before - It's here now! Therefore the choice to avail this opportunity is all yours today. Since we have many new members now, Why not really learn from each other this time. As well as get to know one and other a little better in the process. Because I think this will also function as a great way to break the ice. Let's just hope starting such a wild and open ended thread wouldn't turn out to be a decision I'll regret later - Or count as one of my worst ones yet, here at The GardenStew...
A good decision to have a smart phone, when hubby had his first i thought that i didn't need one. But when he showed me what he could do with one, like going on his forums and googling information, i thought that i could do that and i do, never looked back. The one best thing is to be able to go on YouTube.
My best decision was not to have a smart phone. They are really important for thing you didn't realise you needed to know, before they existed. It's reached the stage of an obsession for so many who don't even realise it. A current TV advert is for one that folds in half which the vendor thinks viewers will find, "essential." A basic mobile phone for emergency situations or texts from PayPal with authorisation codes is all I need. My car has a satnav and can give me traffic information. For any other information I've a laptop. I can get YouTube on that or my TV. If I'm out of the house, nothing else is that important that it can't wait until I get home. I can't recall ever making a really bad decision, I guess I may have made a few, but none so significant, that I can actually remember any.
Yes we can get YouTube on our TV and we use it a lot, but i like to search for videos on my phone and watch it on TV, it's easier that way. I don't use the computer or a laptop that's why i have my phone. Can't think of any bad decisions but i probably did.
That's quite interesting. That having a smartphone, as well as opting to not have one - Both turn out to be the best decisions of 2 different people. Who knew!? I think what we learned from this is, that having a smartphone is good. However if it has the potential of adding clutter to ones daily life, as well as turn you into a slave of social media. Where every action (allegedly in the name of fun) now becomes a chore, where all you now end up doing is just constantly catching up... Then perhaps it's better not to have a smartphone. Which I guess explains why I no longer have any social media presence. As I feel I don't need to stay connected with friends and relatives online. If I need to talk to them, I just call. So I guess the key here is knowing exactly what we need, and what we don't need. While the trend in consumerism is to entice people into buying something - By luring them with a promise that here, buy this item, and with it you'll also get this or that for free - Which often is something we don't really need, but just the attraction of getting something extra at no additional cost pulls most people in. And so from there we fall into this trap of consumerism. Come to think of it again, it's really so simple it's it? Just get what you need, to make life more comfortable. And avoid adding unwanted clutter, be it physical or mental... Just for figuring this out with a little exchange of ideas, opinions, plus some brainstorming - We have now already achieved something here! Which I believe, all those who work in advertising agencies, are now going to hate us forever.
I agree @S-H also we don't upgrade ours when a new one comes out, the first one i had i replaced it when the battery wouldn't charge and i had it for 5 years.
Best decision marrying my wife. Probably her worst decision though. Cannot think of a worse decision that I have made among all the bad ones. Probably going in to teaching instead of horticulture.
One of the better recent decisions I made, was opt for direct to home fiberoptic cable internet. And saying goodbye to the old copper wire phone line with DSL. It actually didn't make any sense to be using DSL anymore. Specially when the price of this is comparable. Best part is that now it doesn't matter if there is rain, thunder, flooding, or any type of power outage - Since fiberoptic system is light based, it doesn't require any power between my device and the Internet Service Provider's headend. So I now get uninterrupted internet 24/7, at 100MB. Plus 2 phones, (which I don't need), and just about every TV channel from anywhere in the world. Hard to believe that just a quarter century ago, the entire country didn't have this much bandwidth. Which I now have access to as an individual... There's a terrible decision also, not related to any of this. That I made in my life long ago, which I'm still paying for... But that I'll talk about later. So as for now, this was my best recent decision.
I've made some doozies of bad decisions in life. Humdingers for certain. And a few good ones. I don't know how to rank them. Like many veterans, my military service was a turning point in my life. In many ways, I became who I am as a result. It may have been both my best and worst decision. I was also one of the lucky ones. I'll admit that. I'll leave it at that. Except adopting my dog / guardian angel. That makes me incredibly happy.
One good decision my husband and I made 30 years ago was to buy a single story home. With bad knees now he appreciates not having to climb stairs. I know not everyone can relate to this or has this option.
I sometimes wish I could have seen into the future when we bought this house. Sadly we have a flight of stairs up to our bedrooms which proves difficult for me nowadays.
Have no fear - Technology to the rescue! Installing something like this in the home is in my opinion less of a headache in comparison to relocating. A lot cheaper too. I was going to say that, but was searching for a video on YouTube. So you beat me to it by a few minutes! Editing this post - I find it difficult to understand why there still aren't provisions made in home designs for the elderly. Or for people with disabilities? Why is that, I keep wondering now? Many of us aren't seniors at the moment. But someday we will be, (unless we do something idiotic while crossing the road). So why are these stair lifts only an optional extra add-on? Which in some cases can't get installed, (as the house design makes it very difficult). So why aren't homes built with such provisions? Okay, to keep costs down, don't install it yet. But design the house in such a way that provision is always there for the future - Regarding such stair lifts. Maybe technology wasn't available for such things in the past. So architects never thought about it. However that's not the case today. But I still don't see any change when it comes to designing of homes today. Why is that??? I guess nobody really wants to change for the better, or plan for the future - Everyone is too set in their own obsolete ways, (specially architects), who in my opinion seem to be lacking vision... So what good is their degree in architecture and designing today, if they can't even modernize and build more comfortable living spaces. When starting this thread, I didn't imagine we'd be talking about this subject. But I think it's interesting how this oversight on the part of modern architects just came up... This really needs to be addressed seriously now.
