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OMG. You couldn’t pay me to do that. A vacation with an animal, is no vacation to me.
Obviously you aren’t a person that loves to have pets. If I take a vacation without them I can’t be gone for more than 2 weeks because I miss them so much. The motor home was perfect with pets because besides their daily walk they just stayed in it while we went exploring.
If we were somewhere that allowed dogs on trails we would take the big dog and sometimes the little ones too because we had packs we wore to carry them when we got tired. They all learned to be excellent travelers because of all the trips.
2 of my Maltese also flew a lot across the country with me in a bag by my feet in the cabin. They both fit in the same bag and were perfectly quiet.
My opinion is just the opposite...if I had know "that," I would have planned/lived differently and would have been retired before now.
I was ahead in retirement planning compared to most people, but I feel the same way. I wish I'd spent a few less years being aimless in my 20s. If I'd gotten started even 2 years earlier, I'd definitely be able to completely retire at this point.
I was ahead in retirement planning compared to most people, but I feel the same way. I wish I'd spent a few less years being aimless in my 20s. If I'd gotten started even 2 years earlier, I'd definitely be able to completely retire at this point.
Hi Mystical! Nice to see you.
I concur. Walking away earlier would be a treat. It's always nice to have the option to do so.
I've always been a loner who never felt comfortable hanging out with a big group of people. I rarely even went out with co-workers outside of official work functions. So socializing was never big with me.
As I always say, my jobs were just a means to an end of a peaceful retirement with no worries about having to endure the grind of work. I gained no sense of specific pride or identity from my career. I was just lucky to have found a steady career I was good at and relatively well compensated for.
On the contrary, quite a few people seem to define their lives by their career, and once they no longer have that power of authority and being responsible for a lot of important things, they feel powerless and empty. At their jobs, they were the man, in retirement, they are nobodies. Must be hard for them especially if they have no meaningful hobbies or other interests that keep them occupied in retirement.
Also as some point out some people were just into the social aspect of their jobs, the gossip, the drama, all of that kept their lives 'exciting.'
I say all these things because I hope in less than two years to finally retire for good. I am so weary and tired of the grind and if all goes according to plan I will retire to another country with much cheaper standard of living all around (housing and health care). I will not be one of those people that regret retiring.
I don't quite agree with the previous post. Giving up my career wasn't about giving up being "the man" or "power of authority" and I certainly don't feel "powerless and empty". Not all of us were in positions such as this in our careers. I worked very hard for 50+ years, sometimes 12-14 hour days. I had long commutes. There were other things that I lost when I stopped working, not power or being "the man". I gave up the satisfaction of 2 professional careers that took me years and years to learn and develop. As a single woman with no family or children, yes, my life was defined by my careers. So what? To me, a well-lived life is about working hard and being productive, not about leisure pursuits.
And I do have plenty of meaningful hobbies and interests, plenty of friends (although I'm a loner and not big on socializing). I think what I'm feeling now isn't about my career being over but feeling uncertainty about my purpose in life now. I don't have kids or much family. I took care of an elderly parent for many years and helped a friend's disabled relative for many years and did other volunteering. Maybe my purpose is caregiving? Yet I'm burned out on that and don't want to do it anymore.
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