Why I Don't Believe in "Retirement"
My wife said, "You know, the day after you stop working it all goes away." I didn't really know what she meant. She went on to say that all the emails and phone calls come to a full stop. All the people you worked with and the industry you helped lead goes away. Your life changes and it will all move on without you.
When I announced to my family and friends that I'd sold my company their first words were "Wow, congratulations! You're retiring!" I started my first business at 26 and spent a career working really hard on my own terms. It was somehow insulting to say "Hey, you're done!" I knew I didn't feel that way.
It got me thinking: what would my next step be? Sure, I can take life a little easier now. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my wife, family and friends. We'd like to take some cool vacations (post-virus).
One thing I started doing about a year ago was learning to play Pickleball. I had never heard of it before. It's a healthy, fun, social outlet. Everyone playing Pickleball is enthusiastic and welcoming. As I play and meet new people, I've begun to figure out what I want to do next. I want to keep working—just in a different way.
"Money is something you got to make in case you don't die." -Max Asnas
"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save." -Will Rogers
"The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off." -Abe Lemons
"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone." -Andy Rooney
"A retired husband is often a wife's full-time job." -Ella Harris
"Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark." -Samuel Johnson
"I don't plan to grow old gracefully. I plan to have face-lifts until my ears meet." -Rita Rudner
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age." -Sophia Loren
"You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing." -George Bernard Shaw
"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don't care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all." -Ann Landers
