So yeah… I’m all about my work. Always have been. Always will be, most likely. While people in my age group – early-early GenX – are starting to retire (or maybe they’ve been retired for a while, due to excellent financial planning and execution on their plans… not necessarily my forte, tbh), the idea of retiring seems like a distant vision… a chimera… a mirage-like image off in the distance, shimmering in the heat of a cloudless day.
Every now and then, I’ll think about retiring, think about what I’d like to do, once I’ve turned in my laptop and badge. I’ll imagine myself rising at a leisurely hour, sipping a cup of fine coffee on the veranda overlooking a Tuscan vineyard (or the back of somebody’s condo)… I’ll see myself paging through a newspaper… or maybe swiping up on my tablet, as I catch up with what’s going on in the world. Maybe I’ll paint. I’ve been known to do that. Maybe I’ll learn a foreign language. Maybe I’ll do one of those things I always say I’ll do, when I have more time (like master small engine repair).
But it never takes long for me to circle back to the simple fact I really have no interest in ever retiring. Because every “fun” thing I think about doing, actually takes work. It takes discipline. I takes concentration and time. It requires a certain mastery to do it right. And that mastery requires work. Plain and simple, work.
And you know what? If I’m gonna work at something, I better damn’ well get paid. That’s what I say.
But what about retirement? Don’t I want to be rewarded for all my years of dedication with discretionary time to do as i please? Well, sure… but if I’m going to do as I please, I’m actually going to work. Because, for me, work is fun. It’s not this awful drudge thing that I have to do … or else. It’s a chance for me to direct my ample (actually, overly abundant) energy in a productive and non-self-destructive way. I have a lot of energy, you see. Hell, even when I’m exhausted, I have a shit-ton of energy. Ask anybody who knows me. And I probably will, for years to come.
So, yeah. I’ll work. The retirement communities will need to wait for me. No, don’t wait – I may never turn up. And I will have fun. Because that’s what I do.
It’s just what I do.
Getting To Work 