If you were retired today what would you do ?
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You really have to ask yourself why you're not content now.
Hi Cut-Throat,
I've asked myself the same question many times. But don't get me wrong - I don't mean to say I'm miserable or anything like that. I'm not. I'd just rather be not working at a traditional "job."
I remember this from when I was a teenager. The idea of getting up by an alarm clock, and trudging down to some place of employment where I'd spend the most productive and energetic hours of the day fulfilling the needs of someone else never appealed to me. But I went down that road anyway, since I didn't see an alternative.
I've been in the computer industry for the past 13 years. I enjoy it. I like computers and I like programming them, as well as troubleshooting them and their related software problems (my current job). What I don't like is the associated paperwork and red tape, the rigid work schedule, the politics, the necessity of prioritizing my activities according to the judgment of someone else (bosses), and the 40-hour work week (way too much time dedicated to "work").
Well, this is a subject that I could go on and on about. Maybe I'll just put down a few things I'd rather be doing (without a job):
1. Getting up whenever I feel like it (which would probably be early anyway, but without an alarm clock), and taking an afternoon nap.
2. Travel? Yes, definitely, but not constantly. I'd love to travel to some of the towns of my ancestors, to look for any traces they may have left. I'd like to trace the route of the pioneers as they came out west. I'd like to visit many, many places of geologic or scenic interest that I've never seen. I'd like to travel some in Mexico, Central and South America.
3. Getting in a couple of hours of exercise every day without feeling like working and exercising is all I can accomplish in a day.
4. Reading more, learning more, accomplishing more, and being more creative.
5. Yes, I'd still like to work with computers, but on my own time, at my own pace, and only on projects that interest me.
6. Writing. I've started a book and would love to have more time to spend with that.
7. Maybe I could FINALLY learn the piano, or guitar, or...??
8. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so I'd love to be able to fiddle around more with household construction and repairs, car or motorcycle repairs, appliance repairs, etc. I do some of that now, but there's so little time...
9. And it would just be great to be able to have some flexibility with activities - to spend as much or as little time on them as I feel like at the time.
I hope I've explained myself well. It's sometimes difficult to put down in print exactly what one is feeling. Regardless, thanks for the welcome - this is a great site and I'm looking forward to trading ideas here.
Gib