It's true what they say about that cliché, time does fly when you're having fun. I can now embrace the word 'retirement' wholeheartedly, but it wasn't the case in the beginning. Let me tell you all about it!
Words and images by Karen
Is retirement akin to living the life of a household cat?
Nicholas Cage said this in the move "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent". Not his best film, although I am a fan of his work. For some reason, this resonated with me. Dave and I weren't ready to laze away our days yet! We compiled a MASSIVE epic hike list and in fact, it felt like we were going to need about 20 years or so to complete all the hikes on that list. I mean, it took a year to get one done! So what did we learn in our first year of 'non-work'? Read on!
Lesson #1 - Get to know the new you
You won't know until you know. It takes time. But there's no pressure to achieve something or perform whatever in this phase of your life because you are truly your own boss now. NOW should be a fulfilling journey to redefine who you are and what you want to do for the next 25 years. I've come to realize that work was a much bigger part of my past 25 years of life than what I thought it was - what you do, what you accomplish, who you spent more time with than family, your moods and driver of happiness. So Day One of non-work life was a bit of a shocker. Think of it - all of a sudden, you are not as relevant to others as you once were. No one is lined up out the door to talk to you, your deadlines have melted away, gone are the back-to-back meetings and your routines are no more. Your ego takes a bit of a hit. The word 'retirement' gives you the heebie jeebies because that would be admitting that you are of a certain age. For the first few months, I would have 'work' dreams about my past jobs and the people I met along the way. I wouldn't call them nightmares but my brain was trying to process this new freedom, and maybe, just a little, hang onto the old life you knew. But let that peel away because those things are not important to you anymore. Now you have the time to do all the things you put off and didn't make time for. Whatever it is, it will help you build a new purpose in your life. If you were more in tune with yourself than I was, you would have been cultivating your non-work side throughout your life, and finding the time for things that are important to you. There won't always be a balance, but it's not all or nothing. Nor is it time for regrets. You can only look forward wherever you are in your life and adjust priorities. One thing though, you really should spend the first month or two of your non-work life just taking it easy and finally sleeping in if you want to! No one will judge you, after all, you are the boss of you. Don't start creating 'to do' lists yet and enjoy your newfound time. Be a cat for crying out loud, you deserve it!
Lesson #2 - Money doesn't grow on trees
As we chose to retire early and join the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, the next thing I discovered was that I spent more time wondering and worrying (ok, not really...that is more Dave's thing) - do we have enough money now that the pay checks aren't rolling in? Did we just make a big mistake? As much as you saved and your financial guru told you you can quit, there is always the 'what if' question that lingers in your mind. It was actually quite easy for me to pull the trigger and quit - I just jumped right in and got the plan in motion. Don't second guess yourself. It wasn't as if I hated my job or anything - I actually enjoyed what I did, but mentally, I was ready for a new chapter in my life. And if you're wrong about the money, you can always find another job. No one says you can't work again at a second career. What is useful to do though, is take stock of how you are spending against your financial targets. Hopefully to get to this point in your life, you would have been tracking your past expenses and know where your money is going. We learnt naturally over the years that we don't need 'things' to make us happy. Do think twice about what you are about to buy and ask yourself if you really need another puffer hoody in the newest colour. Embrace aspects of minimalism and get off the dopamine high from shopping. It doesn't last. There. Reminding myself of this every time so I can practice what I'm preaching. As a new routine, Dave and I have monthly finance meetings scheduled in our calendars. Of course, he booked them on Sundays and I've missed a few or cancelled on him. I mean, really? Sunday?
"What do you call a person who is happy on a Monday? Retired." – Unknown
Lesson #3 - Every day is Saturday
It's true. Everyday begins to feel like a Saturday at first. You sleep in, there's no need to fight traffic, you make yourself a big weekend brunch-style breakfast, and sip your morning coffee leisurely. Rinse and repeat. But then you realize it's Monday! Dave and I have slowly begun to develop a new routine and some 'rules'. Sleep in, but not too much. For us, waking up past 10 am did not help us find purpose, but the opposite. Go to bed at a reasonable time, and not 1 am because you can. It does affect the quality of your sleep. You're not a spring chicken anymore! But one thing we try to do is know what day it is. So Monday is now Costco day, Thursday is clean up day etc.
Lesson #4 - Be your physical best for your future self
Definitely one of those things that gets de-prioritized by many of us during your work-life. But now, there is nothing to stop you from finding time to exercise, right? Wrong. There will always be a million and one things ahead of exercising. The important thing to distinguish now that we have crossed that 50-year line, is that staying fit is going to get us to do the things we want to do now and in the future. Remember those hikes on our Epic List? You can't just decide to do them on a whim because you need to be physically fit. Toward the end of my work-life, my doctor prescribed high-blood pressure pills for me as I was off-the-charts. Physically I looked fine, but inside I was a mess. It was a shocker for me, and I blamed everything work-related on it - fighting traffic, sitting all day, work pressure, you name it. Turns out, it was lack of exercise and diet that led me to this stage. I still find it easy to de-prioritize exercise, but it isn't about sweating it out at the gym that will do it for me now. Its finding small daily exercise moments like a long 5 or 10k walk, my favourite yoga stretch routine, or a quick 20 minute Nike Training workout (love that app!) to get the blood flowing. That's going to keep things from getting stuck and rusted. And believe me, at my age, when you don't exercise for a week, it feels like starting all over again when you pick it back up.
Lesson #5 - Preserve the memories
One thing that was important for Dave and me was to record our journey in some fashion. We love looking back at all our little vacation movies so being purposeful about making a digital recap of each of our trips became a priority for us. It also fills the downtime between trips. It's working out well so far - Dave brings his photo and video creative skills to the table, and I tend to be editor, advisor, planner and writer. Of course, we are learning how to work with each other, so there's still yelling sessions happening during the creative process. If you want to see what we've been up to, check out the links to our YouTube and Instagram channels on this website.
Don't be shy, ask away!
Retirement isn't about walking off into the sunset, or one very long vacation. It's important to be prepared mentally and Dave and I weren't really thinking about that aspect at all. We focused primarily on the financials and didn't even consider how this decision would affect us. I know, I know, it's first world problems but it has actually been a very fulfilling time for us thus far and its still a work-in-progress. There is much more for us to learn in our next journey ahead. In the meantime, let us know if you have questions or comments below, we would love to hear about your journey too!