Rustic23
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
REWahoo 1!
Now the biggest thing driving me towards retirement is time... just wanting to have the ability to completely control what I do and when I decide to do things. Also, I have seen enough friends and colleagues die to realize that dying on the job is something I'd like to avoid, if possible.
DW and I are both very healthy and active, and enjoy each others company... and we know at our ages (DW is 59), none of this is guaranteed to last. So the time element of spending as much time together as we can as a priority
So right now, the the major plus for me working is the amount I am paid for what I do. But at this point in our lives, time is more valuable than money... and time we have left is more unknown than the money we have. So more and more I want to focus on time, and choosing how I wish to spend it, because of that.
Now the biggest thing driving me towards retirement is time... just wanting to have the ability to completely control what I do and when I decide to do things. Also, I have seen enough friends and colleagues die to realize that dying on the job is something I'd like to avoid, if possible.
DW and I are both very healthy and active, and enjoy each others company... and we know at our ages (DW is 59), none of this is guaranteed to last. So the time element of spending as much time together as we can as a priority, without having to schedule it around work and vacations, is becoming more important. That also applies to socializing out of work - I am by nature an introvert, but I have gotten more involved in things outside of work and have built up a fairly good social network. I have also the benefit of being from a large family that is still very close and friendly.
So right now, the the major plus for me working is the amount I am paid for what I do. But at this point in our lives, time is more valuable than money... and time we have left is more unknown than the money we have. So more and more I want to focus on time, and choosing how I wish to spend it, because of that.
When one is busy putting out a fire, he does not feel hot.There are lots of happiness studies that suggest when people are engaged (even if it's something they "don't like"), they tend to self-report as happier... Some people were surprised to see that their results showed them less happy "doing something they wanted", like loafing on the couch, versus solving a problem at work...
There are lots of happiness studies that suggest when people are engaged (even if it's something they "don't like"), they tend to self-report as happier. For instance, they had one study where the study participants carried a device that would beep at random times and they'd enter how happy they were and what they were doing. Some people were surprised to see that their results showed them less happy "doing something they wanted", like loafing on the couch, versus solving a problem at work.
After reading this thread from the top, I realize how lucky I was to have the SuperMegacorp buy the Megacorp. My fulfilling and fun job changed rapidly enough for me to have a good reason to bail. It's like the difference between the lucky SOB who keels-over from a heart attack as opposed to having a degenerative disease that gets a bit worse each day; a long an painful march toward the inevitable.
I once took a business course where they told us that people dislike making decisions. Whether it's what to order from the lunch menu to whether to get married, people recoil from having to decide. For all that we claim to want choices, we hate the process. It's in our nature.
Deciding is scary; it means responsibility and consequences. It means expending effort weeding through confusing data. It means change.
Applying this reasoning to your situation -- and to mine, for I am just like you and every other human on the globe -- it sounds like you're not ready. So I counsel patience. The time will arrive, circumstances will evolve, people will come and leave, and when the decision is sufficiently non-threatening, you will know.
Pax vobiscum.
I don't know whether this is off-topic or not, but I'll put it out there on the chance it may be comforting.
I once took a business course where they told us that people dislike making decisions. Whether it's what to order from the lunch menu to whether to get married, people recoil from having to decide. For all that we claim to want choices, we hate the process. It's in our nature.
Deciding is scary; it means responsibility and consequences. It means expending effort weeding through confusing data. It means change.
Strange as it sounds, we only undertake a decision when we have no choice. Weird, huh?
Pax vobiscum.