There’s lots of talk out in the FIRE blog world about retiring to something, rather than from something. Finding your passion, something you not only don’t mind going to do, but are excited that you get to go work on it.
Right now, I’m just a tired PCP, working full-time, wishing I could sleep in for a day or two, or get out of the office early enough to hit an exercise class. Maybe take a vacation for 2 weeks or more without feeling like I’m abandoning my patients.
If I were to retire fully, I’m not quite sure what I would do with myself. There’s lots of stuff I’d like to get done around the house, but if I spend the next 3 decades organizing or decluttering my house, please put me out of my misery. That isn’t how I want to spend my life.
I like to travel, but I’ve been fortunate to have 2 full summers spent traveling in my 20’s. It was great, I loved the experience and learned tons, but eventually I wanted to come home. I needed a few months before I was ready to think about traveling again. I don’t think I could spend my retirement traveling perpetually.
I never understood people who retired and left the town they had been living in for 30 years. Why spend 30 years living somewhere you don’t want to be? Similarly, rather than waiting to retire to do things that I want to do, maybe I should work on ways to incorporate them into my life now.
Very soon, I am going to be taking a 10% pay cut, and reducing my hours similarly. My challenge will be to make good use of those extra hours, rather than frittering them away. I hope to chronicle my experience here as well, with the hopes that if I know I will be writing about it, I might get more done.