I’m 8 months into early retirement and the words I would use to describe this experiment is satisfying and normal. It has been satisfying because I’m able to spending the precious time I have left on things that are meaningful to me. This could be
- time just hanging out with my wonderful wife
- time spent exercising with tennis matches
- time learning how to build a neighborhood book exchange
- time learning how to fix 20 foot long ceiling cracks
- time contributing to open source to add transcripts to my favorite podcast app, AntennaPod
- time spending outside gardening
- time painting a deck so it won’t deteriorate
- time traveling with my in laws in France just to hang out and learn more about each other
- time taking classes at San Francisco State University for my Master of Education degree
What I have noticed is that I’m not spending time on zoom dealing with non-sense in the corporate world. I do not miss my corporate high tech world where 80% of my time is in meetings or responding to emails and Slack. I love engineering, building, creating.. give me more of that in this next phase of my life.
Retirement has felt normal because I don’t feel the guilt of not contributing to society. I have done my part of walking on the expected path, worked for 30 years, raised a wonderful daughter who is about to graduate from college. that has been fulfilling, but this is the phase of my life for something different; something where time becomes the most valuable asset. I am willing to trade money for time.