Thinking of Retirement?
If you find yourself daydreaming about retirement, you can take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone. As I have pointed out in previous posts, daydreaming about retirement can have a strong and positive effect on your work life. Consider it a sort of mini reset.
My advice—and I know you’ve all been waiting for the moment I share my advice—is to be real about your daydreaming. That means that imagining yourself sitting on a beach drinking mai-tais, while good, is not just good enough. And I’m not talking about financial planning, either.
Try, for just a moment, to imagine what it would be like to be retired. Where will you be and, most important, what will you be doing? Keep in mind, these two—where and what—are partners, because where you live has a lot to do with what you are going to do. Here in Southern Florida, on what we affectionately call the Treasure Coast, you are more likely to be engaged in outdoor activities. You like horses? Believe it or not, this part of Florida is horse country, so much so that Vero Beach, where I live, has its own polo club. There are even places where you can ride on the beach (like Fabio—who I am often compared to).
You like bird watching? The aviary life down here is beyond imagination. We have everything from pink birds with flattened bills to 4-foot-tall birds with maroon mohawks.
How about listening to music while walking an outdoor market located on the river’s edge—in the middle of winter?
What about salsa? There are no less than 7 dance studios in Vero Beach alone.
A friend of mine worked for years in zoos and even served as an animal wrangler for Marlin Perkins from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. When he retired, he bought a small piece of farmland and started growing exotic plants that are often the only things some animals will eat. For 20 years he’s been running a thriving zoo food farm, serving zoos that had previously been forced to buy their exotic plants out of the country.
I have some other friends who have just bought a condo on the Indian River where they will spend their winters, while summering in Massachusetts. What do they do with their time? Anything they want. Both have lost weight and feel better than they have in years.
Your options are endless.
So, unless your retirement daydream involves shoveling snow, I invite you to reach out to me. I would love to help you make the life-in-a-tropical-paradise dream come true.
Unapologetic BRAVO stan/Occult nerd 🎬🕯️/ Director of Hosting & Unscripted at IF Management, Inc.
3moPerfect in every way, the only thing I would add is a 24/7 pickleball court live feed. And I would transport my 82 yr old coach to from Glendale to SD because he's the nicest human ever and wayyyy more fit than me.