what I actually mean by this is that many people are by nature or trained to be workaholics who might never adjust to retirement and just die early if they tried.
I had to unfortunately watch my father die within 5 years of retiring and I always felt the main cause of his passing at age 69 was that he was also a workaholic and not suited to retirement.
However, in my case I was forced by my health to retire at age 50 or die and fortunately our finances were such that I could retire then and stay alive. So, that means that basically I have been retired for 25 years of my life when I believed most of my life that I would die working like most people did when I grew up in the 1950s.
However, my life and education and the businesses I have owned are much different than what most people I knew or knew of int he 1950s too.
In the 1950s I watched many people basically work themselves to death by 40 or 50 years of age and then they are gone. I watched people in my church die a lot too because they wouldn't go to doctors because of their religious beliefs and they would be dead by their late 20s, or 30s or 40s because they just didn't want to go to a doctor because they were superstitious and then they were soon dead.
I learned from all this because I was always more scientific in my thinking even though I was raised to be religious too. However, I was always more practical about HOW I believed in God and angels than most people I knew too.
I soon learned that religions tend to murder people a lot directly and indirectly around the world because churches are not based upon God at all really and are only about Money really when you look at them carefully. They are about scaring people into donating money mostly and that's all.
So, by my mid to late 20s I realized that organized religion was not for me which is one of the reasons I'm still alive today at 75. It's not that I don't talk to God and the angels all the time and get useful answers to questions that I have about almost anything. It's just that I have learned not to trust any organized religion or church at all in my life.
So, for me, retirement is about "The Leisure to Practice". what does that really mean?
It means that I pray a lot 24 hours a day. I often go to sleep praying and wake up praying too so I go to sleep in the arms of God and Angels every night and if I wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid because of strange or bad dreams I often will pray or blog on my sites and often that heals me enough so I can go back to sleep in peace once again.
It took me about 5 years to get used to retirement. But, I was lucky because I didn't identify with my livelihood the way many men do. I identified mostly as a father and as a husband so the empty nest syndrome is one of the things I find hardest to get used to now my youngest is 28 years old and lives in another state and my other two biological kids also live in different states too. However, my adopted Daughter lives in San Diego and has a 6 year old and is expecting this summer too so at least we can still see her from time to time even though we live. Google says san diego is 510 miles from the san Francisco Area or 8 hours and 49 minutes there by car.
So, it's about a days drive there and they might come up an visit us next time we are in Santa Barbara which is 4 hours closer by car.
So, what is retirement like?
It's like a continuous Christmas, Easter and summer Vacation from School that never ends.
So, sometimes it's wonderful and other times it isn't just like when you were a kid and got bored during the summers especially. However, when it is wonderful it is really wonderful when you go someplace new and enjoy it no matter what the weather is then.
Also, I find I worry a lot less than I did up until 50 too. If I'm worried it's more about my health more than anything else. So, is retirement good?
It's as good as you make it.
by God's Grace
No comments:
Post a Comment