How many people have enjoyed this dream and how many times before actual retirement? Too many. That’s a safe assumption. I have and still do. What does retirement mean? I guess, hunched backs, slow gaits, silvery or no hair and at least more than four decades of toil in some working capacity, come to mind. Also, a few grandchildren in to the bargain. We’re looking at the mid to late sixties, age wise at least. This is very much a moving target, subject to the whims of governments and their policy makers. So that we work more and depend less. Now, that’s a lifetime.
It also means longer vacations more often, getting up late, deck chairs by beaches, tropical adventures. In short, to me, it means, work our entire life (pretty much) and then rest and enjoy life or…or death.
Superficially, there’s nothing wrong with it. But there’s a huge a problem when you just scratch the skin off of this theory. Work for most of my life…entire life? Will we live to enjoy the blast that is promised at the end? And who promises this? Will we be whole? Not at all. We can never be whole after sixty. Something or the other will be compromised in our mechanics. It has to. That’s the way of life. We do have an expiry date; our individual parts may have their own expiry dates long before the final stamp on the whole. Some may have spare parts, some don’t. Not yet anyway. When that number is up, it’s up.
So, the question is, should we accept this definition of retirement? I hope not. Can we just resign from our jobs and retire now? I think not. Now, that’s a dilemma. I had to re-define my brand of retirement first, what it meant to me.
I strongly believe that this could be a state of mind or an attitude, along with some mindful tweaks to our material expectations; it should NOT be dependent on age. Something that should not be achieved so close to the grave, or…or after.
Now, how can I achieve it now? Planning for this is the first step, I think. To me it is much grittier than a dream. It should be.
I don’t know. But finding a way has become a delicious mental hobby. All I know is that it’s possible.
I might share a few tips, just before my sixty-sixth birthday, if I live that long.
copyright @ 2021 Jude Perera