Trying To Figure It Out.

I am trying to figure out just what it means to be retired.

I don't mean that I am trying to figure it out in any kind of negative sense.  I am not having trouble figuring out things to do in retirement.  I also don’t feel any pressure to figure out what retirement means quickly.  If I do not figure it out until the end of retirement that would be OK, and if I never figure it out that would be OK too.  It is the journey of trying to figure it out that I find interesting.

About a year before retiring I read the following statement in a book called The New Retirement* by Dan Benson, "Someday, like it or not, either your company or your inner clock will tell you it's time to close the shutters on the work you've pursued all your adult life.  Suddenly, you will be on your own for the next twenty to thirty years.  And twenty to thirty years is a long time."  Mr. Benson goes on in the book to ask a very pertinent question:  "How will you make the most of the rest of your life?"  This question has stuck in my mind ever since I read that and it has been one of my motivators for writing this collection of thoughts.

If you are retired or are plan to be some day you may be thinking about how you will you make the most of the rest of your life after retirement.  In this blog I will try to put some of my thoughts here that may make you think seriously and maybe not so seriously about how you will make the most of your life.  Some of the thoughts here will be original with me and some are thoughts that were put in my head by others.  It is my hope that you will find these thoughts interesting. 

*Benson, Dan. The New Retirement. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000.