Retiring

Retiring at 44 is the craziest thing in the world.

That whole thing about the world being your oyster is true but I do have that allergy to shellfish.

Yes, shellfish. It started with Pacific North West (Seattle) clams and an awful bout of nausea that was repeated when I scientifically ate them a second time two week later to see if it was the clams. It was. When I spent two days in a fancy hotel suite on Sydney harbour after completing two weeks locked down in quarantine, I had the same reaction to oysters. It took five years for me to become completely allergic to shellfish. Oh, how I shall miss oysters.

Anyway, retirement it is. Shellfish it ain’t.

What does a Type-A overachiever do when she has no job to give her purpose?

What does she do when there is no enforced direction in life? No common enemy. No common purpose. When she is alone and not functioning as part of a group with higher goals.

I think it is about goals. Finding purpose in your own goals and not the goals of others or of a company. Achieving goals isn’t the tough part. Setting them is.

This means doing what I have spent years teaching other people to do —

1. Look at the Big Picture;
2. Find Themes;
3. Run a few Ideas by other people;
4. Break it down; and
5. Deliver it.

Part Three

This is part three in the process so I am open to more ideas and some feedback on this part.

Ideas:

1. Write that second book that I have been planning forever but also start the third and fourth. No reason to write it all in order. Google docs locked and loaded.
2. Learn to fly. First lesson booked for the 11th of January.
3. Move to live near a beach. This one is not well formed and just came to me today. We will see how long it stays on the list.

So, what do you think?