Retirement Can Be Your Cinderella Story
We all remember the story from our childhood. A girl who was treated harshly by her stepmother and two stepsisters. She was made to do all the work around the house while the rest of her family bossed her around and treated her like a servant. With a stroke of magic from her fairy godmother, she ends up going to the ball given by the prince. Her life changed forever in just the blink of an eye. In some ways that’s how I think of retirement. Your life changes forever when you are released from the burden of your job. Retirement can be your Cinderella story. Maybe you didn’t have stepsisters bossing you around, but you certainly had upper management telling you what to do. And the better you perform the more work they gave you to do. Or at least it seemed that way. I couldn’t wait to escape from Corporate America and become the master of my time. I was finally free to do anything that I wanted. I could tackle that reading list I had been compiling over the years, and my wife and I could schedule those grand adventures we talked about across our own beautiful country as well as the places we had only read about like South America and Australia. We had the time to see the stars on a dark night in the desert as well as the Northern Lights of Scandinavia. Retirement became our Cinderella story, and we have truly enjoyed our ability to fill the calendar with the things we had always dreamed about.
Retirement can be your Cinderella story as well as you adjust to that wonderful feeling of having nothing urgent on the calendar except, perhaps, a lunch or dinner date with friends. Retirement is meant to be savored like a fine wine. Morning coffee can be fully enjoyed as you do the morning crossword puzzle or catch up on the latest scores. Your goals for the coming year are strictly up to you rather than being dictated to you by someone who loves to hand out impossible sales or productivity goals. I found the business world to be nothing but a game rigged to benefit those at the top with the payouts for a good year declining rapidly as you worked your way down the corporate ladder. With retirement, you’re the one making goals and defining success. And they can be as exciting as you want them to be. Do you want to spend a month in France and return home speaking like a native? Put it down on paper but don’t be too hard on yourself because French can be a difficult language. Do you want to win the community pickleball tournament? Start taking lessons and practicing for the big day. You can start a new hobby, write a novel, learn how to fish or take the longest road trip of your life. Retirement can be your Cinderella story, and your ending can always be a happy one.
I absolutely love everything about retirement. I’m very aware that part of the reason for that was that really disliked my job. Although I was compensated fairly and did very well, I can’t really recall a time when I looked forward to going to work. I dreaded every Monday and was tossing and turning in bed every Sunday night. My mind would drift to the things I would rather be doing as I sat in endless meetings and conference calls. I would wish that I could take my project planning skills and use them to plan the perfect vacation and, after over forty years of servitude to Corporate America, now I can. I have enjoyed the trip planning process almost as much as the journey itself. Researching the best restaurants and attractions and reserving the best guides to make sure everything we wanted to see would be done as efficiently as possible. When we entered the Vatican before the official opening and had the Sistine Chapel practically to ourselves, I was thankful for the discipline my years of managing projects could now benefit my wife and I in a way that always leaves us anticipating our next trip. This was a whole new level of enjoyment and the same can be true for you. Retirement is your Cinderella story where you transform yourself from the worker and servant into a full participant in everything the world has to offer. Anyone who has experienced life on a top-rated cruise ship knows what it’s like to be pampered and spoiled with wonderful food and service. Retirement is a wonderful thing.
Retirement can be your Cinderella story.
You have the power to change your life!
Now I’m well aware of some readers are saying that all of this is true IF you have the money to make all of this happen. I agree with that, but I also contend that there are ways to make your money go further than you think. Being flexible in your travel plans and grabbing last-minute deals can save you thousands of dollars with some of the best cruise companies in the world. The same is true with hotels and timeshares. You can also giver your retirement a complete makeover by starting a business to create extra income. If you make it an activity that is related to a hobby or interest, it won’t feel like working at all. Quite a few retirees have become writers in their golden years and use their travel as the foundation for their extra income either by writing about their experiences, offering reviews of cruises, hotels and other attractions or entering the world of affiliate marketing with a website of their own. Retirement can be your Cinderella story and if you find a way to link an enjoyable activity with creating an extra source of income to fund an elevated retirement lifestyle, you’ve truly turned your life around almost as much as that young girl in that fairytale. It can happen if you really want it to. Retirement is the reward for a life that you spent working. Don’t waste any opportunity to make the most of it. It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!
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