Daily writing prompt

How do you want to retire?

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Ewww I don’t even like that word retire. I’ve worked in long term care long enough to see that being able to retire and exist happily, healthily and enjoying each day is a bit of a lottery. I feel that people foolishly waste time while they’re young, dreaming of the trickery that is retirement.

Putting in your years of service and then walking over this rainbow to retirement where you spend your days in sunny places with no responsibilities is akin to dodging a bullet in a war zone, in my opinion. Kudos to the ones who actually do enjoy that reward, of a lifetime of hard work. But so many people do not. They drop dead of a heart attack on week two of this bliss of retirement. Or they live everyday with a progressive condition such as Parkinson’s or MS, that’s already been robbing them of life. Then there’s dementia, which robs not your body but your mind at first. It eventually robs your body because your brain no longer tells your body how to move.

I know this seems dark for a Sunday morning and especially on Father’s Day but I highly encourage anyone who is “living for retirement” to volunteer or spend time in a long term care facility and see what old age actually is to some people.

My Dad would one hundred percent agree with me. He’s not even very old, seventy-five. He spent his life working as a farmer and he loved the fourteen hours days, seven days a week he put in. Several years ago he had a heart attack and recently a fall in which he broke his hip. He’s no longer able to climb up on the tractor and work the land. He’s stuck at home and just going for small walks and doing small chores plays him out. A forced retirement. And he’s not happy. I think he doesn’t know his identity anymore. He was a hard working farmer. Now he’s not. So what is he, how should he spend his time. He doesn’t have those answers, this is not the life he wanted.

If you have a job that you hate going to everyday and you’re miserable, find a new job. Life is right now. Life is not waiting for you when you retire. I mean it could be, for the fortunate few, there is endless travelling and new hobbies to explore.

I prefer to enjoy my life right now. I rarely contemplate retirement. I want to work as long as I can and enjoy each day, each weekend in each year as it comes. I have little aches and pains, my body is fully functioning in all aspects and why would I wish that to change.