OK To Go To The Beach

What does it mean to be retired? Well everyone knows what it means to be retired. At least that is what I thought until I actually stared retirement in the face. Then at that point I realized that maybe everyone else knows, but I am not sure that I know. 

So I decided to look up the word “retired.” When I looked up the definition of the word “retired” on a dictionary website* I saw the "official" dictionary definitions, but I also saw a comment posted by a fellow meaning seeker next to the “official” definitions. The posted comment said, "I have finally fully figured out what the word 'retire' means. I've been "retired" for a year and a half but I now understand that I've 'paid in full'. It's OK to disengage, go to the beach or a cabin on a whim, sleep late, rise early, watch movies til 2 p.m., eat lunch at 3 and dinner at 9. Whew, this feels good!"

  

When I read this I had to ask myself, does retirement feel good enough for me to say, "Whew, this feels good!” If not maybe I need the perspective this person had when he thought about retiring a debt. He realized he had “paid in full.”

The difference is perspective.

*"Retired." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster,  <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retired>.