This is not an article about money, a resource which has its value determined by employers, corporations, and financial markets. It is about living, strengthening and managing the values and priorities in our lives, which is in the hands of each of us.
Usually people look forward to retirement as the time in their lives during which they finally get to do what they want with their time.
Why are any of us waiting until our bodies and minds are slower, most of our time and energy have been invested in benefiting someone else’s business, and several decades are between ourselves and the most recent time we seriously considered who we are really?
Given the great economic insecurity current in the US for most of us, companies very rarely reward longevity or worker loyalty, and expect long hours of productivity on short notice.
Yet, many of us fully invest our lives into such settings, as though the time to get serious about knowing and enjoying who we are, starts at retirement, disadvantages ourselves.
When the balance between developing and following our own values and interests were similar enough to those of the culture of most companies in the US, and we had enough hours and energy in a day to pursue our personal priorities, waiting until age 65 to expand our personal freedom, was bearable.
Now that workers and business owners have a wider gap in their respective reasons for being in the same environment, a worker who waits until age 65 to start appreciating and caring about their unique life, will feel a great deal of pressure and frustration from the lack of attention to themselves.
The balance between work and personal interests can no longer wait until age 65, assuming we’d like feeling relatively happy and good about ourselves at that age.
Simultaneous to your work life, invest in your personal development just as seriously.
Companies may come and go within the span of your work life.
What remains will be who you are, so find ways throughout your life, to nurture the life areas and relationships that matter to you. This way, you’ll start your retirement with literacy in living a full life.
