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For me it's how fast time passes. Well, it seems like yesterday I was a riding fool. Really, has that much time passed? Right now I am barely able to walk and get around. To me, right now 35 years ago practically seems like yesterday.

This is the same for me! It really astounds me how fast time is going. How does it go so fast?

This is going to sound incredibly dumb and probably self-serving but...what surprises me both about life (I'm 60) is just how much joy I feel every day that I manage to crawl out of bed! Sometimes, in the middle of the night, when the pain is almost unbearable, I get up and walk around our lovely (very messy) home, even go outside (not in the winter) and wander the grounds in the starlight and/or moonlight, and all of a sudden my anxiety and frustration about the pain floats away and I can go back to bed and sleep for a bit. In the morning, I walk the dogs down our farm roads. Those days when the wind is howling, my head is throbbing and it's bitter cold outside, the dogs still bounce around in pure joy as we head out. They don't care about the weather or even my problems, right? I find their joy contagious, even if it is sometimes annoying. So, JOY, that's what surprises me most.

ETA: I write this as I just got in late to work because I decided to ride the horses in this crazy summer heat. My neck has been driving me crazy ever since we took our fun vacation and I had a small gravity storm at the Grand Canyon. I went home for lunch, laid down on the couch instead of eating and then, because I was tired of feeling crummy, I hopped up and went riding instead. Now I'm legit tired and feel great

And the passage of time accelerates as one gets older...

One thing that constantly surprises me is that I'm still so naive about how flaky so many people are. I was brought up that if you told someone you were going to do something, you did it, when you said you were going to do it, even if it did prove to be inconvenient for you to do. Apparently that's unusual?

Moutaineer wrote:And the passage of time accelerates as one gets older...

One thing that constantly surprises me is that I'm still so naive about how flaky so many people are. I was brought up that if you told someone you were going to do something, you did it, when you said you were going to do it, even if it did prove to be inconvenient for you to do. Apparently that's unusual?

Yes to both sentences. In my younger years I was acutely disappointed by people who didn't do what they said they would and now I'm surprised if they actually do what they say they will (except my husband who is most honorable.)

I am continually surprised at the selfishness of the world. Everyone is out for themselves without caring how their action affect others. I lose my faith in humanity on a daily basis.

I am genuinely amazed about how many terrible people there are in this world.

At the moment, I am amazed that so many seemingly intelligent, educated people can believe conspiracy theories that to me are totally unbelievable. I suppose they think the same about me

I am sort of with Paula redsox, and Canyon. I have been so surprised at how many stupid, evil people there are. I have spent most of my life having issues because I thought most people are good and if you just explain or show them, they will be OK. I was so wrong. The last five years have been the sledgehammer to finally get it through my head.

We see things through our own lens, and since it is unfathomable for me to be like this, it's been really hard for me to understand that people CAN be like this. It's a good thing we needed to learn, though. All of the good people have wasted far too much time and effort on the bad people.

A good thing in life that surprises me is how much I love Miss A. Sometimes I cry when I think how she has helped me get past roadblocks and tough times. And how she has built my confidence, both in the saddle and out of it. Yesterday I was in the left turn lane when some Ahole zooms from behind me, and turns left in front of me. I caught up with him at the next light and GOT OUT OF MY CAR TO TELL HIM HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS. Maybe I was stupid, but he needed to be told.

Moutaineer wrote:And the passage of time accelerates as one gets older...

Ain't that the truth!

PaulaO wrote:A good thing in life that surprises me is how much I love Miss A. Sometimes I cry when I think how she has helped me get past roadblocks and tough times. And how she has built my confidence, both in the saddle and out of it. Yesterday I was in the left turn lane when some Ahole zooms from behind me, and turns left in front of me. I caught up with him at the next light and GOT OUT OF MY CAR TO TELL HIM HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS. Maybe I was stupid, but he needed to be told.

Oh Paula, that frightens me. Please don't do that again. Think of road rage and how many people carry guns now.

I am surprised at how many.people have mental illness / behavior disorders. things like depression, anxiety, stress, compulsive and or antisocial feelings. I think wecare inherently selfish. but I have found kindness is contagious and being a friend is a skill.

and it's really hard to.loose weight and really easy to gain.

The foibles, tribalism and mean-spirited ways of humans don't surprise me; they're just more pronounced in times of stress.
I do agree, like others, that time seems to blast by more rapidly now than when I was a kid, or even in my 20's!
What continues to amaze, maybe more than surprise me, is how nature, at least here on our little piece of the world, rebounds and continues to move forward despite assaults from weather, people, diseases and other causes. Case in point is our recent Big Freeze 2021 with our catastrophically damaged oak trees putting out leaves now, birds shifting their mating strategies post-freeze, and various plant species that we're seeing for the first time popping out all around. I'm fortunate here that I can always step right into nature when the rest of the world appears to be imploding.

Rockabilly wrote:

PaulaO wrote:A good thing in life that surprises me is how much I love Miss A. Sometimes I cry when I think how she has helped me get past roadblocks and tough times. And how she has built my confidence, both in the saddle and out of it. Yesterday I was in the left turn lane when some Ahole zooms from behind me, and turns left in front of me. I caught up with him at the next light and GOT OUT OF MY CAR TO TELL HIM HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS. Maybe I was stupid, but he needed to be told.

Oh Paula, that frightens me. Please don't do that again. Think of road rage and how many people carry guns now.

That's what everybody has said, but how did the a-hole know I wasn't with my 2 friends Smith and Wesson????

Chisamba wrote:I am surprised at how many.people have mental illness / behavior disorders. things like depression, anxiety, stress, compulsive and or antisocial feelings. I think wecare inherently selfish. but I have found kindness is contagious and being a friend is a skill.

and it's really hard to.loose weight and really easy to gain.

As a teacher for over 30 years, this doesn't surprise me. We all think so many people are "normal" and we aren't. But everyone has something, or many things, whether it is screwed up families, mental or behavioral things, mood issues, or whatever. Kids, especially, feel like they're the only one. I think one of the good things in all of this open communication is we have discovered how we all have things and there are many other people with out things. I definitely think I am a little on the Asberger's spectrum. Having worked with kids and autistics, I can relate to feeling too much input, and can really feel the urge to obsess, check and double check, and the anxiousness.

And, yes, WAY too had to lose weight and easy to gain. I went to the doctor yesterday (to check on the high heart beat for a long period of time) and that's the only scale I trust and see now. Man! I do an hour long work out 3/4 times a week, then have to hike a mile to get the horses, and then ride two of them, which is work. Have I lost anything? Noooooooooo. My idea about it all is I am I gaining muscle, especially in the core, from so much working out, and that is pushing out the top layer of fat.

I guess not much surprises me these days. After the last 4-5 years and especially since the pandemic it has revealed so much about people you thought you knew and often not in a good way.

The way many have acted was not the way I was raised. To be respectful of all and judge on character and their actions not who they love what they look like or what god(s) or none they follow. And listen to science and the experts!

I’m glad for our farm and our family who have been so supportive of each other (with a couple of in law exceptions, sil).

My answer would be: How long it is!!!!