Do You Fully Appreciate Retirement?
It’s old news if you’ve spent any time on this website. I hated work and I hated school. I vividly remember my first day of school as my mother escorted me up the steps past a crying child into a room that smelled like modeling clay and had those desks that I would be forced to sit behind for next twelve years. My biggest disappointment in all of this was to learn that there would be a second day of school and more to come. With all of that in mind you can imagine how much enthusiasm I had when I started to think about different career paths and how I would spend my next two or three decades working to be able to retire. Do you fully appreciate retirement? I know I do. I tell you in all honesty I had countdowns for retirement. I thought I could get out of the workforce at 55 but the tragedy of 9-11 occurred and the drop in the stock market put my retirement plans on hold. Please understand that I do not minimize the tragedy of that day. It was a horrible day for our nation and those who lost their lives because of that attack on our country. But it was also a setback for those who wanted to escape the working world. I know that pales in comparison to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
I am very appreciative of the career that I had and the money that I earned to support my family, but I also have to emphasize that I hated my job. There wasn’t a day I looked forward to it, and I spent my nearly hour-long commute thinking about the day I could retire. It was a day I looked forward to for almost forty years and when I ask you do you fully appreciate retirement, I ask you that question because even though I couldn’t wait for that day to happen, I’m not sure that even I fully appreciate this gift of waking up each morning without the pressures of the job I disliked so much. I am not exaggerating. It's like a prisoner being freed after serving ten or twenty years in prison. Do they really appreciate what is happening to them. Do they have any idea how precious this gift of freedom is. I started this website because I don’t think most retirees appreciate the gift of retirement if they really think about it. So, right here and right now I ask you the same question: do you fully appreciate retirement?
With everything you have to be thankful for in your life, do you fully appreciate retirement?
Do you spring out of bed with the joy of knowing that there is nothing that you absolutely have to get done? Do you appreciate a day where your biggest responsibility to make your morning coffee? Do you take for granted that the only things on your calendar are the appointments you decided to put there? Do you ever stop to realize that the only trips you have to take are vacations rather than the meetings that someone else arranged to advance the projects that they forced you to work on? Just take a moment to appreciate the silence and the blank calendar that has no meetings, conference calls or project deadlines. Take a moment to smile at the conference calls you don’t have to participate in and the presentations you don’t have to make to people who couldn’t care less about what you were talking about. Take a moment to celebrate this moment when you took back control of your life. We call it retirement, and it is a gift too many people take for granted. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have reached this stage of my life. But, as thankful as I am, even I have to ask myself: do you fully appreciate retirement?
For those who can identify with the little rant I have just taken you through, my next question is whether you’re ready to show the world how ready you are? Get out that list of books that you never had time to get to. Update that travel list of places you wanted to go. Rediscover that hidden chef inside you who fell in love with the tastes of good food and different cuisines and wondered if he could ever re-create it in their home kitchen. Book yourself on a trip to the far-off lands you always wanted to see and re-examine your past for those lost desires that are never too late to resurrect. Playing a musical instrument? Writing a novel or selling your photographs to a magazine? Retirement is that time in life when you can turn those dreams into reality. Do you fully appreciate retirement? Do you understand the gift you’ve been given?
If this sounds a little bit self-centered, I have to say that I don't think it is and there's a very good reason for this. I believe we all have a purpose in life. Some people found it in their job, and I hope they know how lucky they are. That wasn't the case for me and the fact is that even those people who found their job fulfilling have maintain that sense of purpose in retirement. I really believe that the hobbies and interests that we are drawn to help reveal what we were put on this earth to do because a real hobby should provide a challenge and when we develop a discipline to master a challenge in one area, what we learned by doing that can be applied to all areas of our life. When we do that, most people find that the purpose for our existence is to help others and, when we can do that in a small way, we can do it in a larger way as well. I know many gardeners who have not only taught others their special "magic" to grow the best tomatoes around, but they also give most of their "crop" away to neighbors or food banks. When you develop a special knowledge and master a skill, the best thing you can do is share it with others. Do you fully appreciate retirement? You do when you share your enjoyment with others in some way.
We are all fortunate to have reached this stage in life. So many people are not his lucky. We owe it to them to live life to the fullest. Do you fully appreciate retirement? I think the best way to show that you do is to make plans to live out your dreams. Shake up your life by shaking up the world and becoming all that you ever envisioned yourself to be. You’ll never get another chance. It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!
Thanks for visiting. If you like what you see here, please tell your friends. If you haven’t done so already, be sure you take The Self Discovery Challenge for Retirement! It’s designed to help you make the most of this wonderful time of your life. You’re never too old to discover something new about yourself!
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