When did you first begin thinking about retirement?

August 29, 2015February 4, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter

Mike and I had an interesting conversation yesterday about retirement. I was talking about how strange, but wonderful it is living here in the southern Colorado foothills, when I said, “This was really your dream, but I love it!” So he turned to me and asked, “What was your dream?” I was totally stumped.

When I met Mike over ten years ago, I was unemployed after an unfair firing at age 49. I was actively worrying about my next house payment. I don’t recall ever thinking about retirement! In fact, I had only thought so far as to put away as much money as I possibly could. That was about it.

So I asked him when he started thinking about it. He said he began dreaming about it in childhood. That was when he first imagined having a tremendous view in a rural mountainous area. The man has always had so much more vision than myself.

I’m not completely sure why, but I have always had trouble fantasizing something better, and in this way I now see how I have severely limited my options.

Why bring this up? Because I now think it is so important to teach your kids to continue to visualize a better life. If you can’t visualize it, you probably won’t be able to create it. These are the words I live by now:

Abundance is how we live in each moment – the choice to be open, the choice to entertain the possibility that we can have, create and attract what we truly want.

4 thoughts on “When did you first begin thinking about retirement?”

1010ParkPlace.com

August 29, 2015 at 7:36 pm

The fence in front of the mountain in the photo header at the top of your blog page… Looks like Ralph Lauren’s place in southern Colorado. Is it? My late husband, James, and I were looking to retire there. We made numerous trips because like Mike, James had always wanted a view in the mountains with a place nearby where he could ski. Fortunately, we didn’t wait for “someday,” but bought a place in the Texas Hill Country with a view. We loved it here.

Your last paragraph strikes a chord as well. I’m getting ready to embark on the next part of my life; one chosen by me and no one else.
Brenda

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midlifecrisisqueen

August 29, 2015 at 8:02 pm

I’m not sure Brenda. We are about 12 miles west of Walsenburg (off of I-25) and then west on Highway 160. If you feel like traveling in your new phase of life, why don’t you come visit here? I’d love to show you around. We have lots of Texans up here in the summer!
BTW, I wanted to comment on your Tulum post but couldn’t. I loved Tulum back in the early 1990s! I spent a week there on a meditation retreat. So sorry to hear of its demise…

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mercyn620

August 30, 2015 at 1:14 am

Love the line – ‘if you can’t visualize it you probably won’t be able to create it’. Excellent advice.

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midlifecrisisqueen

August 30, 2015 at 3:22 pm

Thanks Meryl. I have found that to be very true in my life. I need help in the visioning department I think!

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Adventures of the NEW Old Farts

"As our inner life grows ever more luminous, the chatter of the speed-and-greed world slowly fades, leaving us with greater peace, tranquility, quiet and contentment.” — Arthur Rosenfeld

When did you first begin thinking about retirement?

When I met Mike over ten years ago, I was unemployed after an unfair firing at age 49. I was actively worrying about my next house payment. I don’t recall ever thinking about retirement! In fact, I had only thought so far as to put away as much money as I possibly could. That was about it.

So I asked him when he started thinking about it. He said he began dreaming about it in childhood. That was when he first imagined having a tremendous view in a rural mountainous area. The man has always had so much more vision than myself.

I’m not completely sure why, but I have always had trouble fantasizing something better, and in this way I now see how I have severely limited my options.

Why bring this up? Because I now think it is so important to teach your kids to continue to visualize a better life. If you can’t visualize it, you probably won’t be able to create it. These are the words I live by now:

Abundance is how we live in each moment – the choice to be open, the choice to entertain the possibility that we can have, create and attract what we truly want.

4 thoughts on “When did you first begin thinking about retirement?”

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When I met Mike over ten years ago, I was unemployed after an unfair firing at age 49. I was actively worrying about my next house payment. I don’t recall ever thinking about retirement! In fact, I had only thought so far as to put away as much money as I possibly could. That was about it.

So I asked him when he started thinking about it. He said he began dreaming about it in childhood. That was when he first imagined having a tremendous view in a rural mountainous area. The man has always had so much more vision than myself.

I’m not completely sure why, but I have always had trouble fantasizing something better, and in this way I now see how I have severely limited my options.

Why bring this up? Because I now think it is so important to teach your kids to continue to visualize a better life. If you can’t visualize it, you probably won’t be able to create it. These are the words I live by now:

Abundance is how we live in each moment – the choice to be open, the choice to entertain the possibility that we can have, create and attract what we truly want.

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