Retirement is the Best Time of Your Life

Retirement is a time to celebrate.  After years of being at the mercy of someone else’s schedule, you now have the days to yourself.  If you haven’t planned for this change, your blank calendar may come as something of a challenge.  I get very sad when I hear someone say they are bored because, without a doubt, retirement is the best time of your life.  All the things you dreamed of doing can now be done.  During the endless and boring meetings and conference calls that I endured, I would often make a list of the places I wanted to go and the things I wanted to see.  I would look at the New York Times Best Seller List and review the books I would like to read but didn’t have the time for.  I would look forward to the weekend and fantasize about sleeping late and going out for a leisurely breakfast but knowing that there were things to be done around the house and the only time to do them was on the weekend.  Activities with the family like soccer games and music recitals that featured your son and daughter were very enjoyable, but they weren’t the cross-country road trip that you always wanted to do.

Retirement is the best time of your life for many reasons, but travel might be the best.

The last day of work and the beginning of your retirement changed all of that, but most people don’t plan for that big change.  You now have to fill forty, fifty or more hours that you used to spend working.  While many people think that they can finally get their golf game up to pro level status, the first rainy day with nothing to do gives them a glimpse of the amount of free time that they now have on their hands.  After all, there is only so much golf you can play before you realize that you might need another interest. Retirement is the best time of your life but it’s even better if you have a plan for how to get the most out of these years that are indeed golden.  Travel is my number one recommendation because it is the best education that you can get.  When you at all the things that you can do to maximize the enjoyment of your excursions, you start to build a program of enrichment that will get you to look forward to each and every day and leave you wondering where the time went.  My wife and I can’t believe we’ve been able to travel for the past eight years and we’re in awe of what we’ve experienced and what we’ve learned.  Wherever we go we make an attempt to learn a little bit about the history of our destination as well as experiencing how the people live.  The best way to do that is through the food and wine of the region.  Bringing back recipes and trying to duplicate them is one of our great pleasures and it is something we never get tired of and it is always a part of planning our next trip.  We’ve even taken cooking classes to try to duplicate some of our experiences from dumplings to shawarma and from brisket to conch chowder, we have had a great time expanding our horizons.

Retirement is the best time of your life if you take the time to savor each experience.  Reading about a region before you visit can enhance your trip in ways that you never thought possible.  Leveraging the expertise of a competent local guide is well worth the extra money and taking the time to learn about the history of the region and the people who live there will create a bond with the area that will enrich you in ways that will surprise you.  When we hear a news headline about a place that we have visited, we have a totally different perspective.  We realize that the world is not as big and foreign as it used to be.  Travel has allowed us to create memories on every continent, and it has made us realize how interconnected everyone is.  While it’s true that you can learn all of these things through books and videos and even some excellent online courses, the experience of being there cannot be replaced.

Retirement is the best time of your life and spending that time traveling the world is not a bad option.  While there obviously is a cost to doing so, the lack of money should not be a reason to not see some of this wonderful world that we live in.  There are some very creative ways to raise money or create an income.  Selling some of the “junk” that you’ve collected over the years is one way to create some extra cash and starting a little business is a great way to bring in some additional income.  A website like this one might be your answer to any money problems that you might have.  This website started out for me as a curiosity, but it is now something that I look forward to doing and the best part is that I can do it on my own schedule.  There’s no store to open or customers to wait on and people stop by on a regular basis every single day.  I know quite a few people who have turned their hobby into an income with a website, a book or even a podcast.  The technology that is available today is truly a wonder and your cell phone is proof of that.  That little phone that you carry around produces pictures that are as good as a master photographer.  You no longer have to be a technical wizard to produce a great photograph or create an interesting website.  It’s just one more way that you can retirement the best time of your life.  So go on.  Get started.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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