"Retirement" and Other Mythical Creatures

I suppose it's only natural to reach a point where we start to look towards the future, and towards our eventual retirement from whatever it is we've been doing.

My dad retired when he was 58, but he was OK because he got to sell the family business — a modest factory operation — and keep most of the "bag" for himself because his parents and several siblings had already passed away.

He went in pursuit of his dream of restoring old paintings and antique furniture... and passed away, himself, a couple of years later.

I sometimes cast a long glance in the direction of retirement... but I fear it will never be much more than a long glance.

The reality is that I will likely never be able to retire. Having been self-employed (and struggling) for most of my adult life, I have no pension schemes, and it seems unlikely that our Social Security system will have much to give me, when I formally reach retirement age.

I feel somewhat blessed that what I do doesn't require me to be physically strong, just mentally/intellectually strong.

I can keep writing till I no longer can see the screen or the keyboard; I can keep selling stamps to collectors for equally long, and I can continue to edit people's books till I no longer have the cognitive wherewithal to continue.

As such, my prayer to the Universe is to be able to keep my mental faculties for as long as I possibly can.

There was a time when I thought that the world of crypto might even be my "golden ticket" out of here... and into some form of retirement. However, that has not been the case, so far... and unless we miraculously end up with $100 Hive, I don't see that particular scenario coming to pass.

Thankfully, I can keep writing blog posts — I hope — well into my old age! And I'm actually OK with that.

I was never the sort of person who could see myself spending my life playing shuffleboard with Florida retirees. No disrespect to Florida retirees!

These days, there's also the uncertainty factor to consider. Our world is — for whatever it's worth — a lot more unstable than it used to be.

You used to be able to have a pretty good idea of what you'd need to make it through a year — money wise — some 20 years back. Nowadays, it seems like everything is so uncertain that's there's no telling whether what you might have believed to be adequate today will still be adequate in three years from now.

And that makes it quite difficult to make much of a plan.

So I'm not really making much of a plan, aside from this idea that I'll just keep doing what I am doing, for as long as I can.

Do I feel sad about this reality that my retirement might never happen?

Maybe a little. But, at the same time, I'm not going to dwell too much on it. I chose this independent life, and like many things on this planet, it a choice that also had a price.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2024-03-06 01:05 PST
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