NYEXPAT
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Sister is 70 and has a "Casita" attached to her Ram pickup. She left her home 5 years ago and has travelled the country. Last month or so she has been in Alaska with her little dog. Seems happy!
Sister is 70 and has a "Casita" attached to her Ram pickup. She left her home 5 years ago and has travelled the country. Last month or so she has been in Alaska with her little dog. Seems happy!
As I get older, the thought of sky diving becomes, what if I break some bones? They might take a long time to heal. I also wanted to get my pilot's license. Now, living in Hawaii, it's no longer seeming as important. I also wanted to film, edit, produce, and narrate my own ocean documentary for the Discorvery Channel or Nat Geo. But now, the production of such ventures requires a lot of money a lot of time, and a lot of people to get amazing footage that no one's ever seen before. These dreams, for me, at 52, don't matter as much. I used to want a Lamborghini or a Ferrari...a fancy, high-powered sports car is also no longer seeming as important to me...so what is? Dive travel, with my wife. And world photography travel.
I really wanted to travel around the world for 1-2 years when we FIREd, but I can’t leave my dog for that long. He’s a middle-aged dog so by the time he’s gone, we may not be up for spontaneous global travel. We’ll see ...
There are sites that connect people who house/petsit for free in exchange for free lodging. We have done this as both houseowners and sitters several times. You have do your due diligence on both ends investigating, but it is so worth it, IMO!
ie.:
housesitters.com and housecarers.com (I have used both sucessfully.)
Most people who do full-time RV'ing only last 2 to 5 years doing that. It sounds really adventurous and romantic, but having to move every so often becomes a chore. And then, you run out of new things to see, and do not have room for hobbies in a long-term basis (like my wife's vegetable gardening and my electronic hobby).
So, I realize that long RV trips up to 2 or 3 months work best for me. And once a year (or two years) is enough. This way, I will not get tired and give it up. The current thinking is when I get older, meaning 6 to 8 years down the road, will downsize to a class B and keep going.
I always figured to walk the Appalachian Trail upon retirement. Then upon retirement, I realized that it just wasn't going to happen. The mind could do it, but don't think that this body could do it...
Well, I certainly share your retirement dreams; we must be kindred spirits. From the stress of w*rk, I always wanted a nice little backyard vegetable garden. But when we built one 4 foot x 8 foot raised wood planter in our backyard, we received a stern HOA notice that it was not allowed without architectural approval. So I contacted a landscape contractor and asked if he could create a backyard kitchen garden for me that would be approved by the HOA. He assured me he could, saying "HOA's are no match for me!"
My second retirement dream was to visit and camp at the national and state parks and walk through the nature trails, something I hadn't done since I was a child. I was not keen on roughing it anymore in a tent. Fortunately, DH was all in on the idea of a travel trailer. It's a good thing too, since I think trying to attach the sway bars and tow hitch would be too difficult for me alone. I do think a travel van or camper where you don't have to do any hitching would be easier for a single woman.
I wanted to play for the Yankees (as a youth). Got as far as being a starting pitcher in college, but wasn't major league material. So I became an engineer.
As far as doing great things in retirement, I'm still looking for new ideas, but DW is so ill (long term), I have been on hold. I helped a friend build a kit boat for two weeks in the Michigan U.P., but that was a vacation of sorts. DW had a caretaker for that period.
For those who are planning and dreaming, get your self in gear before you get too old or ill.
Pellice, don't five up on camping - it is totally awesome. Join a Meetup group and go with them. I don't know where you are but here is a link to an all women group near me, hopefully there are Meetup groups near you.Have any of you had the experience of having FIRE making oneself confron the reality of some long - held dreams? One thing I hadn't anticipated after FIRE was acknowledging the likelihood that some dreams may go away. I guess it was easier while w*rking to put off thinking about the pluses and minuses and just hoping things would happen.
And it's certainly not ALL dreams, just a few that I can now cast a more realistic gaze at.
One is camping. I've only camped a couple of times in my life. My family were not campers, and I never had a boyfriend who camped. I enjoyed my couple of experiences camping a lot, and I think I could get into it - the campground life, trying to cook fancy stuff over a campstove, play cards, making acquaintances. I already do a lot of walking and hiking, so that isn't an issue. Along the way, I acquired a nice tent and backpack and sleeping bag - none ever used. Well ... I am an over-62 female, have hardly any experience camping, can't even build a fire or pitch a tent. I may have missed my window! Since I am unwilling to really put the amount of effort it would require to catch up on camping expertise. This dream just may not happen.
A second one is more externally driven. A vegetable garden. I've had a vegetable garden for 20 years, just not a very good one. Now my Homeowner's Association has decreed: no vegetable gardens. I appealed, but was rejected with one sentence. Probably no one even read my appeal. I had dreamed that when I FIRED, I would finally have the perfect little vegetable garden, but today I took out the weeds and my remaining vegetables, except for on cherry tomato plant. Probably have to take that out too. But ... my plot was becoming progressively less viable as neighboring trees grew and cast more shade. I've considered three options - taking a community plot somewhere, moving my gardening further to the rear of the property, where there is a wild field, or severely downsizing into a few containers. But I know I'd never keep up a plot if I couldn't walk to it, and the wild field would mean constant assaults from weeds and animals, and the containers aren't really gardening. So that dream is either going away or going on hold until I move - and it's even less likely to happen if I am older.
Well, I have plenty of other dreams. How about any of you? Did you find that even after FIRE, you just couldn't make some dreams happen?
Have any of you had the experience of having FIRE making oneself confron the reality of some long - held dreams? One thing I hadn't anticipated after FIRE was acknowledging the likelihood that some dreams may go away. I guess it was easier while w*rking to put off thinking about the pluses and minuses and just hoping things would happen.
And it's certainly not ALL dreams, just a few that I can now cast a more realistic gaze at.
One is camping. I've only camped a couple of times in my life. My family were not campers, and I never had a boyfriend who camped. I enjoyed my couple of experiences camping a lot, and I think I could get into it - the campground life, trying to cook fancy stuff over a campstove, play cards, making acquaintances. I already do a lot of walking and hiking, so that isn't an issue. Along the way, I acquired a nice tent and backpack and sleeping bag - none ever used. Well ... I am an over-62 female, have hardly any experience camping, can't even build a fire or pitch a tent. I may have missed my window! Since I am unwilling to really put the amount of effort it would require to catch up on camping expertise. This dream just may not happen.
A second one is more externally driven. A vegetable garden. I've had a vegetable garden for 20 years, just not a very good one. Now my Homeowner's Association has decreed: no vegetable gardens. I appealed, but was rejected with one sentence. Probably no one even read my appeal. I had dreamed that when I FIRED, I would finally have the perfect little vegetable garden, but today I took out the weeds and my remaining vegetables, except for on cherry tomato plant. Probably have to take that out too. But ... my plot was becoming progressively less viable as neighboring trees grew and cast more shade. I've considered three options - taking a community plot somewhere, moving my gardening further to the rear of the property, where there is a wild field, or severely downsizing into a few containers. But I know I'd never keep up a plot if I couldn't walk to it, and the wild field would mean constant assaults from weeds and animals, and the containers aren't really gardening. So that dream is either going away or going on hold until I move - and it's even less likely to happen if I am older.
Well, I have plenty of other dreams. How about any of you? Did you find that even after FIRE, you just couldn't make some dreams happen?
Thank you. That's good advice.I'd caution against fixating on specific activities. I think the key to being happily retired is to be able to say that you enjoyed the day. Negative thinking , like "I should read more" or "I should travel more" is kind of self defeating - catering to other's expectations.
Thank you. That's good advice.
Here I am a week from retirement, and I have cow*rkers putting pressure on me to come up with some "retirement career" or something. It isn't good enough to say, "I'm going to downshift, sleep in, do volunteer work, explore my hobbies, explore more exercise options... as I see fit."
Nope. Not good enough for them. Gotta have an exact plan. "You'll be bored out of your mind." "Don't worry, you'll be back."
Blah, blah, blah.
Sounds like jealousy to me. Could be a wake up call to them and they don't wish to acknowledge and thus the comments.
Here I am a week from retirement, and I have cow*rkers putting pressure on me to come up with some "retirement career" or something. It isn't good enough to say, "I'm going to downshift, sleep in, do volunteer work, explore my hobbies, explore more exercise options... as I see fit."
Nope. Not good enough for them. Gotta have an exact plan. "You'll be bored out of your mind." "Don't worry, you'll be back."
Reminds me of the guy I met on the cruise we took the week after I retired. When he asked me what my plans were I replied with something similar to what you said above. He got a concerned look on his face, leaned close to me and said very seriously, "You need to keep working at something or you'll be dead in less than 10 years."
13 years later I'm still alive, still healthy, and haven't worked a lick.
T
Here I am a week from retirement, and I have cow*rkers putting pressure on me to come up with some "retirement career" or something. It isn't good enough to say, "I'm going to downshift, sleep in, do volunteer work, explore my hobbies, explore more exercise options... as I see fit."
Nope. Not good enough for them. Gotta have an exact plan. "You'll be bored out of your mind." "Don't worry, you'll be back."