Retirement Is A Buffet

Did you ever go to one of those all-you-can-eat restaurant buffets? They’re usually piled high with almost any food you can think of from fried chicken to barbecued ribs and almost any dessert you might be in the mood for.  While the quality of the food might not be up to your standards, you have to admit that almost anyone can find something that will satisfy their hunger. Retirement is a buffet of activities, interests and indulgences that you could never make time for back in your working years.  The world opens up for you in retirement in ways that were only just wishful thinking while you were working.  Do you remember the two weeks’ vacation that you had to schedule when you first started out?  And, if you were lucky, by the time you were getting ready to retire you had the luxury of four or even five weeks?  Or perhaps you were a teacher and had the whole summer off.  Now, you can have the rest of your life off.  Talk about luxury.  One of the best ways to ensure a happy retirement is to be grateful for what you have and the freedom of time during this wonderful time of your life is one the best gifts you can be given.  No alarm clocks, meetings or conferences calls.  Life becomes one pleasant activity after another

Retirement is a buffet of all your favorite activities.

In a lot of ways retirement is a buffet of choices of your own making.  In any of those buffet type restaurants the choices were always up to the restaurant.  If there was a restaurant that offered you the chance to submit a menu and then provided a line up of your delicious selections, don’t you think you would have gone back to it again and again?  I think retirement is like that in many ways, but too many people don’t take the time to appreciate it.  How you spend your time is totally up to you.  What I’ve learned is that for most people that’s great news but for some it’s a nightmare.  You start to hear rumblings about being bored and they end up in the worst place of all: in front of the television watching mindless shows.  Retirement can be so much more than that.

We have approached retirement in an entirely different way and very similar to the restaurant concept.  Retirement is a buffet and sometimes you enjoy travel, playing cards, reading, visiting family, dining out and developing interests that will keep our minds sharp and nurture our creative skills.  I think that’s very important.  Just like making sure you take some fruits and vegetables in that buffet line, you should make time to keep your mind active, and your body fit.  I believe there is an inner desire in almost every person to fulfill some calling or curiosity.  For me it has been a love of history and studying the people who shaped our country and the world we live in.  I always thought the people who we read about in history must have been very interesting as individuals and, for the most part, they were.  There are some figures from our past that hold a tremendous fascination for me, and I can’t seem to be able to satisfy my curiosity about them.  Being able to visit the only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned had a very real impact on me.  So did our visit to Dallas.  I am old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination as it unfolded before our eyes in November of 1963.  Being able to look out that same window was something I never thought I would be able to do.  When you are able to indulge your interests in that manner you realize what a gift retirement is.  You worked decades working for someone else to get to this time in your life.  Retirement is YOUR time.  Indeed, retirement is a buffet of choices for your interests and desires and dreams.

It is also the time to tap into your creative side.  There’s a sense of satisfaction that you feel after creating something on your own.  It can be as simple as a meal for your family (although there is nothing simple about the way I cook) or developing your golf skills to make par or at least get close.  Inner goals are important, and they become the “desserts” on the food buffet line.  Retirement is a buffet of travel destinations, wonderful meals in restaurants and at home with friends and family and engaging in the activities and interests that we sometimes call hobbies but can take possession of us in a way that we don’t fully understand or realize.  That’s what life should be about.  Unfortunately, work sometimes gets in the way.  Retirement, however, removes all the excuses.  As we said, retirement is a buffet of endless pleasures.

Take some time to think about what you would like to see on that buffet and then go after it.  Whether it’s traveling around the world, starting a new hobby or becoming a four-star chef with their own food truck, the possibilities are endless and the journey to get there is more fun than you can imagine. Retirement is as good as we make it, and I intend to make it a dream come true.  It’s time to go out and Enjoy Retired Life!

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