I’ve had retirement on my mind for many years now. I remember now that many years ago retirement was probably the furthest thing from my mind and something I thought I would probably never actually be eligible to participate in. I’d worked for the Postal Service for a year in the early 80s, but wasn’t much into the whole career thing then. I was busy having fun.
Then I worked for myself for many years in between jobs working for state government as a library technician. Every time I left a government job, I cashed in my retirement fund and went on my merry way. Then I got a job with the federal government again when I was 39. Even then I didn’t believe I’d actually stick with it long enough to retire.
Looking back, though, I realize that I’ve been gearing myself towards “retirement” pretty much my whole working life. In other words, retirement for me is working for myself, but not worrying so much about the income – and saving for retirement!
Working for myself means I get to call the shots, create my own hours, work with who I want and on what I want when I want. Some people think that’s pie in the sky crazy talk. If it’s crazy, let me be totally nuts because I will be “retired” one way or another at some point in the not too distant future if I live long enough. And this is true for most people.
Bottom line, and the point for writing this post, is that I think we get all caught up in how much money we’re supposed to have before we can retire. I’d probably drop dead of a heart attack in my current job if that was the case (or I’d work there into my 80s, which I surely have no desire to do).
Question is, do I let my job and my income define my life or do I allow myself to be fully alive and define who I am moment to moment? Dream or reality? Reality or dream? No dice, it’s my life, and I’ll do what I want (kudos to Eric Burdon for that line).
