I didn't retire early--more like right on time--but sometimes people say I don't look old enough to retire (I'm 66). I've heard it said that Americans often don't retire until they absolutely have to (as their ability to do their jobs begins to deteriorate). There's a great reluctance to do so, partly because people worry about the future and want to secure the best possible financial footing before retiring.
I get that. But I also believe there is something to be said for retiring while you're still in good health and can enjoy your post-work life to the fullest. In my case, I asked the people who manage our retirement account if it was safe to retire, and they answered in the affirmative. So my idea was, take it while you're still hale and hardy. Retirement is post-work but it is not post-purpose.
I'm only two months in, and I've spent that time doing what I pretty much said I was going to do, cycling around the countryside and reading books. I feel about as "hale and hardy" as I have in years. So that's how my retirement's going.
My plan was to relax through the summer, but be thinking about how best to be fruitful in my retirement. I've come to no conclusions yet. People suggest charity volunteering, then there's the possibility of getting involved with a church ministry of some sort, and of course there's always that shadowy writing project idea.
What does the future hold? I haven't been at the doorstep of so much mystery since I got out of high school? Retirement so far has been fun, but it has also been a kind of quiet quandary. I don't really want it to be all about self-indulgence and fun-seeking. I want it ultimately to be other-oriented and God-pleasing, and joy producing. The question before me, before all of us, always and ever, is how then shall we live?
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