A photo of me and my colleagues in my workplace (I am the one in a brown skirt besides the man in Suit and red tie, or the eighth person from my right).
This is in response to an initiative of @ericvancewalton, to make us walk down memory lane and relive those moments long gone, keeping them alive for our future generations.
In a year from now you’ll have a legitimate memoir that you can pass along to future generations of your family. But what I really hope is it provides a valuable glimpse into your inner self.
In your opinion, when is the right time to retire?
When it comes to retirement plan, I would say there's no one-size-fits-all approach. For one, it's when financial stability is achieved, for the other, it's phased retirement where one gradually reduces their workload as they age but still continues to work and earn to support family. While for someone like me, I see no retirement in sight, like stopping work entirely, but rather transitioning to other money-earning means so as to continue supporting myself and my loved ones, for as far as my body and health can carry me.
I would always challenge the premise that there's something like absolute retirement, my parents are still working and my Grandma worked on the farm till illness brought her down at age 80, and she then passed on a few months later. And I'm working with no retirement in sight anytime soon!
Financial stability is the major thing to consider when thinking 'retirement' and the truth is that in a third world country where I come from, financial stability is a myth, with low wages that plague all the sectors of the economy and the lack of social support systems, one would have to work their butts off, just to meet up with the basic necessities of life vis-a-vis food, shelter, clothing, health-care, education, transportation etc. With little or no savings Month in Month out, how does one's thought ever run in that direction.
Should I fail to mention the obvious fact that many labour as slaves under the private or public sector, wasting all their productive years until they are no longer useful to themselves or to anyone else. A very pathetic situation!
But I drew inspiration from my forerunners who never retired in that sense of the word but kept on working in one way or the other, throughout life. So I did emulate their work ethics knowing fully well that anything less would grind me to a halt.
But I also understand that in everything done, one must achieve balance by putting on the scale, other aspects of life, to be able to sustain life itself. Being forced by sickness to retreat would not be a part of my plan so I have learnt to be very conscious of my health needs and to take care of them accordingly.
Farming and writing would be the two jobs I would never retire from, even when I have retired from my conventional one because long before now, I have put unconventional measures in place, to continue earning to support myself and my family, for as long as good health endures.
Photo taken by me.
Thank you @ericvancewalton for this initiative.
I am @edith-4angelseu and thank you for stopping by my neighbourhood.