Retiring From Work Is Really Resetting To Adventure
There are two types of people who retire, the type retire from something and the type that retire to something. If you’re part of the group that has retired to something; congratulations, you already have an idea what your day to day after your reset will look like. However, if you’re in the former category, you might be looking at this reset with a very different mentality, anxiety or fear may be part of your journey. I had a huge range of emotions when leaving mine. It’s strange since it’s been 9 months since I retired from corporate American and took the giant leap into this reset. While odd at first to not have something planned daily, it now feels very normal. I’m on a 6 week journey through Europe the time is honestly flying by.
What kind of things have I been doing? Where has my time gone?
Adulting activities
Getting rid of most of my worldly belongings
Moving cross country
Getting health insurance
Transferring funds from retirement accounts and HSAs and investing them wisely
Digitally organized 10k+ photos by year
Fun activities
Started this blog
Daily Wordle, Quordle
Learning a language with Duolingo
Starting a book club
Reading/listening to way more books than I ever had time for
Learning new skills
Going on wine tours
Traveling/Exploring
Walking most days more than 10k steps as I explore European cities
Planning future trips
Planning what I’m doing tomorrow or in a couple of days from now
National Parks
Florida and the southeast US… soon to be expanded to more
Exploring DC
A week long cruise through Scandinavia with family
Germany- primarily Munich
Portugal- 3.5 weeks is long enough to really get to see not only the big cities but get lost in some of the smaller cities
Family time
Spending time with family at holidays and events like my uncle’s 85th birthday party
Babysitting my niece
Helping people on tasks I want to help them on like get rid of things, put up holiday décor, organize
Helping my parents prepare to move with tasks around their house
Looking into what it’d take to digitize all the physical family photos
Friends time
Regular phone calls and visiting of friends along my travels
Going kayaking/paddleboarding
CampFI in Florida
I’m sure there are a million other activities I’ve done that I haven’t listed on here. There is a beauty in that since I’m off living for myself rather than just meticulously documenting the activities. Getting lost in nature and figuring out what comes next.
Things I’ve learned:
If at any moment I’m feeling down on what’s going on, even if it’s a rainy gloomy day while traveling or feeling sick, it’s still without a doubt better than being in an office.
While I rag on my travel partner for needing to take them for walks, it’s not bad walking 5-8 miles a day when you’re out exploring somewhere new or getting to. Curious how my body and health might improve from this extra activity that I wouldn’t get at a desk (oh and the views are usually pretty great).
There are so many good books out there, I’m excited that I get to learn from their knowledge and hopefully work to improve my own life and experiences because I want to live a long and healthy life.