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What a difference a year makes. Time, it seems, doesn’t merely pass, it can transform us, reshaping the ordinary rhythms of our days into something we scarcely recognize as our own life.
I spent this afternoon at the season highlight of the local soccer league year, an annual clash between the two biggest teams with around 20,000 other spectators cheering them on. My wife Suzie and I had a grand time with my grandson, caught up in the spectacle and the shared excitement. Yet as I waited for kickoff, my mind wandered to these same three days last year, and the stark contrast revealed something about what it means to reclaim one’s time.
Last Christmas Eve, I was in my business by 6am, running operations until 6pm. This year, I rose late, savored a few black coffees, and took a 45-minute stroll to the local ice-cream parlour with the grandkids. I know which Christmas Eve I preferred. A year ago on Christmas morning, the intruder alarm summoned me to spend hours at the office awaiting an engineer. This year, I had a leisurely day in the kitchen preparing dinner. And instead of today’s lively soccer match, last December 26th found me grinding through ten hours of year-end tax reporting while the business stood empty for the holidays.
Retirement has certainly brought welcome change. But perhaps what strikes me most is this: we spend decades building something we call a career, mistaking busyness for purpose, until one day we stop—and discover that life, the real substance of it, was waiting patiently for us all along. Retirement was certainly the greatest gift I received this past year.
I am retired 10+ years and have never missed being at work. We are fortunate to be financially secure and have been able to travel freely. However, I do have a few thoughts that may be worth sharing for those still working: 1) You need to figure out how to spend your time when retired. Hobbies, volunteerism, travel, etc. It doesn’t matter – you need things to keep yourself busy and give purpose in retirement. 2) As the pandemic taught us, events may not always work out the way you planned, so you need to be flexible. And, 3) Aging is not a linear process, but accelerates as we get older. You may be able to walk 10 miles a day at age 65, but by the time you are approaching 80, you likely won’t. If you want to travel in retirement, don’t wait.
Most of us are tied to a retirement timetable that depends on Social Security, Medicare and retirement savings, but if we had been able to swing it at an earlier age, I would not have hesitated to retire early.
Amen.
Enjoyed your article Mark. Yes as much as I enjoyed my career, I’m enjoying retirement more. However, retirement should not be an end in itself. Work is important for sure and perhaps we should work as long as we’re able or at least as long as it’s rewarding. I like what someone said, “Many people are too busy making a living that they forget to make a life.”
Nice article, Mark. I was downsized at 45, and it turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. I worked out of my home in 1994, when very few did that, then semi retired at 55, and worked just about an hour per day from 2021 to 2024, and full retirement was on 12-31-2024. Now I offer my services of mostly financial and computer help at my Independent Living. Very fortunate to have little stress over the last 20 years. Enjoy each day.
Your first full year is nearly complete, has it gone quickly?
I agree, Mark. My last day of work was October 30 and I’m very much enjoying retirement! I enjoy doing what I want, when I want and not having to answer hundreds of emails. I was under a tremendous amount of stress in a toxic environment. When I see a friend I haven’t seen since retiring, they tell me how good I look.
The lack of stress is wonderful, though I should probably get my act together. I’ve been retired for nine months now, and that business bank account is still open, quietly bleeding me for $75 a month in “service” fees. That’s it—my New Year’s resolution is to finally close the damn thing.
Close the business account, and put the $75 cash each month in your pocket to pay it forward or do what you please. 😊
Many people allow their occupations to define who they are. This is a great post for those struggling to shake off that identity.
Well, Mark, glad you are enjoying retirement. It’s the absence of stress and obligations that I enjoy in retirement. Maybe relief is a better word than enjoy, however, it still feels good. Like you noted, you get to substitute an enjoyable activity for another day of work–not a bad trade.
Well said—“the absence of stress and obligations.” I don’t think I realized how much that’s been taking out of me all of these years until I finally left it behind on July 1. I wake up happy because the days belong to me—all of them.
I don’t even need a specific “fun” activity to make it a good day. Just the absence of feeling burdened and overwhelmed most of the time is a great gift.