Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The next day...


I had a great thought about my post for today but I've forgotten what it was. So I will continue with my somewhat random thoughts about getting ready to retire. Another major factor to consider in your planning is your mental state. Not whether or not you are insane but as it regards your job. If you have not retired yet then now is the time to consider how you feel about your job and your place in it. (this is what my idea for a post was about!) If you love your job, or identify with your job, or are just mysteriously eaten up with your job, then you need to start preparing your mental state for when you have NO job. Trust me on this. I don't care what you say now (you might be saying "I'm okay with new people doing my old job different" and you might even mean it, but you are just kidding yourself.) When you work somewhere for 20 or 30 years or more, that job is a part of your total make up. It is like deciding after 25 years to quit driving and let one of your kids do it for you! What an adjustment that would be for most all of us. Well retiring is kinda like that. All of a sudden you have 10 or 12 extra hours in your day. Thats hard enough alright. AND someone else is doing what you use to do and they don't need your help. Worse still, they don't even want your help. Here is what I told myself for 10 years before I retired. "Someone else did this job before I came along and someone else will do it after I leave. And like me, they will have their own ideas about how things should be done. It's no blight on my record. Besides, what if I died right now. Someone would jump right in to fill my shoes and I would be forgotten in 6 months tops." This was like a little prayer I used to say. Because let's face it. Everyone likes to think that their job would be lost without them. Nothing could be further from the truth. So start conquering this thought now. It takes time to drill it home. And if you are one of the fortunate few who truly does not care about their job after they leave, then you don't need to be reading this blog either. After I retired, it took me about 6 months to stop wondering about what was happening at work. Now I rarely think about work at all. And when I do, I put it in its place, and go on with my day. So plan to work on your mind and all the irritating little things it will observe. Retirement is the ultimate goal. Otherwise why have a retirement fund? And believe me, I don't care what anybody says, this is REALLY living. Till we meet again...

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