Retirement Perspective: First Anniversary - Year One in the Archives

Learning to Pace

Photo by Kelly Common on Unsplash

Today marks a milestone in my life - one year ago today, I walked away from trading time for a paycheck.

• A year of not having to put on work clothes.

• A year of not having to be away from home for eight to twelve hours a day.

• A year of setting my own schedule.

Of course, this was something I dreamed about, but for most of my working life, I had no idea how I was going to get there. I could not see how it would happen.

So, imagine my surprise when the inevitable time came and I did the math for a retirement budget, that’s exactly what did happen.

Full disclosure, I had been working the numbers for a while to understand where things stood, but I was still unsure.

It’s a scary thing to pull the plug after being in the workforce for fifty-five years. I will write another article soon about the financial pathway to our retirement.

One week later, I began writing Life UnCorked on Substack. Next week I’ll post to celebrate my first year of writing.

I mentioned that here just to say that my very first post on Substack was about retirement:

Perspective: Retirement Is Not A Dead End

The goal was to clarify my retirement perspective (primarily to myself) as much as to launch the newsletter -

Of course, true retirement should never be about idleness or a cessation of work. Retirement should be about transformation, transition, and the pursuit of different and exciting things that we’ve not had the time or opportunity to do yet.

And that is what I have endeavored to do.

As the year progressed, I posted additional articles documenting how things were progressing. You can read those here:

Retirement Perspective: An Ongoing Series

Not knowing exactly how things would go when I first began this retirement journey, plus the fact that I just wanted to write more, I decided to start a substack newsletter to supplement my retirement income.

I knew it would take a while to build up a supportive subscription base, so I started out “pedal to the metal”. Up at 5 am, in the seat by 6 or 6:30, writing 5 days a week. I was cranking out 3-5 articles every week.

After about five months of that, several things happened.

• One, I realized that this pace felt too much like a job. I was burning out.

• Second, after adjusting to the new financial paradigm, I realized that we did not need the extra income or the accounting/tax filing headaches that went with it. Since very little of our income is subject to income tax, I did not want to complicate things.

• Third, I realized I loved writing for writing’s sake. So, with no pressure to continue rapidly building the subscriber base, I decided to slow the pace and ditch the goal of going to a paywall subscription.

It was liberating.

More on this aspect of things as I commemorate the first substack anniversary next week.

The main thing, as far as retirement goes, is that my wife, Susan, and I have much more freedom to do the things we enjoy without having to worry about a schedule.

We have increased our birding, hiking, and kayaking excursions. With grandkids in New Mexico and Mississippi, we can visit on our timetable, not around an imposed schedule. And the local grandkids can come over to Pops and Grammies’ house anytime.

I know I can write from anywhere and have done so when we travel, but it is not because I have to. I love to find story topics wherever we go.

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So, to keep this short, here are a few essential things I learned over the years that have helped me get to where I am today:

1. Diligence pays off: Proverbs 10:4, 27:23

2. Discipline (self-control) is essential to stay focused and achieve goals: 1 Cor 9:27

3. Patience develops toughness (and is also a spiritual fruit): Romans 5:3-5

4. Resourcefulness is key to financial well-being: Genesis 41:33-40, Philippians 4:13

5. Faith is essential every step of the way: Proverbs 3:5-7

6. Gratitude helps keep a right perspective: 1 Thessalonians 5:18

With that said, I am so thankful to everyone who has subscribed to Life UnCorked, and The Talking Pen. Your support as I move into my second year means the world to me.

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