Not Normal, and Probably Not a Mess

I worry about things I don't need to. I don't think I am normal, in today's definition of normal and as much of a mess as I think I am, I am probably not a mess. In fact, I probably have things figured out more than the vast majority of people. I almost wrote "people my age", but I am not even sure I need to specify it that way anymore.

This comes up for a couple of reasons. First, I went to a financial planner. I had never been and I figured I could stand to learn something. So I went and we went over my goals and dreams and financial situation, and it's not normal. But again, my view is distorted because of a handful of people close to me that are misers compared to my superfluous lifestyle.

A good way to describe it is the 1%. Not necessarily only by income or wealth, but also in road racing or standardized testing or the stock market. I think most people imagine that once you get to the top 1% you would be happy and settle, not true. The drive that gets you to the top 1% is not satisfied until you are at the next step, the 0.1%, and then it will be the next step, the 0.01%. Eventually the goal develops into an Olympic medal or Forbes 400 or designing the best selling mobile phone ever.

Along with the not normal aspect or standing out in one direction, it might be that standing out in a certain way, in today's world, prevents a host of problems that the majority might suffer. Of course it could also be the other way and standing out could present a number of problems that majority does not suffer. I'm being vague. Purposely vague for a variety of reasons.

Here's the muscle, the high school drop out rate is through the roof in this country, blended families are complicated to say the least, many people have no concept of their future, persistence is used to describe something that exists longer than the entity in computer software that created it instead of persistence defining our government policy, leaders and our personal lives.

All of this troubles me. Has it always been this way? I mean, I feel like I have issues and problems, but then I hear what other people are dealing with, and I really have been served life on a silver platter. If it has always been this way I am amazed we have made it so far. If this is all new, is it sustainable?