I welcome you to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learners' featured post. Life moves in cycles; you start from a point where you are a little baby with no strength to do anything for yourself, and then you move on to be a young adult with so much strength doing almost everything for yourself and single-handedly, and then at some point you grow older and your strength starts to fail, and you are forced to go back to that point (retirement) in your life where people do things for you as you no longer have the strength like you used to.
At retirement you are expected to do more resting and engaging in the things you love the most since while you were working you did not get the time to do any of that, and also so you can live long and enjoy the benefits of retirement. The reason many people don't last after retirement is because at retirement they worked even harder than they did before retirement and at an age when they should not be doing so.
So many people already have plans for their retirement and how they plan to spend their lives during that period, and then there are some with no plans at all and are just waiting for when it will come knocking, believing that when they get to the bridge, they will cross it, but the truth is that retirement is another phase of our lives, and preparing very well for it goes a long way in making sure that we do not suffer when we retire. If you don't prepare properly for your retirement, you might end up working even more after retiring instead of resting and engaging in activities you like and enjoy, like the retirement was intended for.
Even though planning does not guarantee what your life will be like after retirement, it at least gives one an edge over those without any plans. After retirement, those with plans know their next move, while those without plans will be in a lot of confusion. Retirement does not mean you become idle; it means whatever you do at that point is because you want to do it, not because you are obligated to do it. When still in service, whether you want to or not, you are forced to leave your bed every morning so you can show up for work, and retirement is the only thing that helps you break free from that cycle.
If I were to retire today, my life would take a completely different path. I would stop working because I have to and start working because I want to, just like the illustration I gave above about having to show up whether you want to or not. At retirement, you decide when you want to show up and how you want to. That is how a retirement should be, and if I were to retire today, that is exactly how I would be living my life.
I will focus on things I have a passion for that work, and hustling to make ends meet has stopped me from pursuing; at retirement I will travel more and explore new places; I will read more and broaden my knowledge even more because of the much free time I will have at my disposal, and I will have the freedom to choose what I want to spend my free time on.
At retirement I will also spend time with family and friends because currently I don't spend much time with my family and friends; it has been almost six months since I last saw them because trying to make ends meet will not permit that, but at retirement I will have as much time as I need to be with my family and friends.
