You can retire from more than work
You can retire from anything.
Retirement is typically associated with work but, as the authors of a fantastic little book called A Simpler Life point out:
“In a wiser society, the emphasis would be on retiring—as early as possible—from a host of supposedly necessary demands that, on closer inspection, are entirely unsuited to who and what we are.”
To retire means to “withdraw to or from a particular place.” That place can be work but it doesn’t have to be.
Which poses an interesting question: From which places do you want to withdraw?
Think of “places” as activities, relationships, locations, patterns, routines, habits, beliefs, ideas, positions, opinions, anything really.
To help get your juices flowing, here are five places I’ve retired from:
Exercising on cardio machines
Working for other people
Living in major metropolises
Believing all debt is bad
Maintaining unfulfilling relationships
Does this mean I’ll never again run on a treadmill, have a boss, live in NYC/LA, judge my financial decisions, or spend time with someone who drains me?
I don’t know.
Just as many retirees surprise themselves by taking on part-time or freelance work after completing their formal careers, I may find myself revisiting some of these places.
I don’t intend to—and I don’t know what the future holds.
Given the information, thoughts, and beliefs you have right now, what are you ready to retire from? And what would you like to become ready to retire from?
Here are five places I aspire to retire from:
Worrying about what other people think of me
Attending events that require talking loudly or straining to hear a conversation
Tying my self-worth to how much money I make (or don’t make)
Drinking alcohol
Ordering stuff from Amazon
Remember that retire can also mean withdrawing to a place.
The authors of A Simpler Life explain:
“We can be more ambitious about both what we unshackle ourselves from and what we aspire to do instead: we could retire to connect more deeply with our own minds, to develop our creative potential, to keep a handle on anxiety or to explore who we could be if we stopped caring so much about what other people thought of us.”
Instead of fiddling with 401(k) calculators or learning to play golf, try preparing for retirement in a new way:
What’s something you’ve changed your mind about?
What aspects of your life do you feel more or less interested in, committed to, or tolerant of than you did before?
What is it time to move away from? What do you want to move toward?
