{"id":3643,"date":"2015-02-28T12:49:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T18:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=3643"},"modified":"2015-02-28T22:37:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T04:37:38","slug":"retirement-into-the-light-and-still-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=3643","title":{"rendered":"Retirement – Into The Light and Still Climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Out<\/a>

Out of the tunnel.<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s happened, the first time in over 40 years I am unemployed. Oh? Yeah, some folks call it retired<\/strong>. It was official yesterday; Last working day of February, 2015. I know it\u2019s a record run of continuous but varied employment most people don\u2019t experience. I always had the next employment in hand when I made the changes. This time I am at the far end of the tunnel with as of yet, no solid plan. Actually that feels good for now, feeling really free so soon after\u00a0breaking out.<\/p>\n

On the brightside of this forty plus year ride through the often dark and sometimes mystical tunnel is the sun is still shinning very bright on the outside and I am in a beautiful wide open space. The old track in the tunnel has ended but I am free to build new tracks in every direction except back. I figure it is not a good plan to \u201cbacktrack\u201d.<\/p>\n

I have a lot of options. I have seen the light<\/em> coming from the end of my\u00a0tunnel for some time (no, not another train) and noticed some writings on the wall<\/em>. I have been preparing for the day. I laid the groundwork so I could exercise many options when I came out, prepared to build new\u00a0track. Now it is time to sort those options and pick the new direction to lay rail.<\/p>\n

The plan includes shedding the load I used to carry. Dropping a lot of those heavy loaded cars I have been hauling and choosing a lighter load. Excursion runs hauling tourist might be fun. I do want to pack a little paying freight in the baggage car.<\/p>\n

For me retired life is not pointing to another full time job. \u00a0I will always be in some sort of \u201cbusiness\u201d as that is as I believe, still a part of my nature. It will be a\u00a0business vocation I enjoy just so I can continue doing what I really like. I will be working on my terms (as much as possible) and not punching\u00a0a \u201c9-5″ time card.<\/p>\n

We all have read the axiom; \u201cIf you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.\u201d Well, I have always loved what I did. I made adjustments along the way to keep it that way. For me it is how work has always been. Again, lucky for me you might suppose. Those adjustments were to, \u201cKeep things on track\u201d.<\/p>\n

I created a slogan on my DimensionalArt.Org<\/a> website, \u201cDoing what I love for those who love what I do<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d That is my retirement plan. It is far easier to live up to that axiom when it is not the main source of one\u2019s survival. Philosophers can write truisms all day long but reality states, \u201cOne must do what is necessary to live.\u201d I leave it at that. Reality is not always a philosopher\u2019s dream world\u00a0and\u00a0goals are not things already possessed.<\/p>\n

So what has actually just happened is one of those transitional periods where I (and my spouse) adjust for the next stage of living. It\u2019s new, scary and an adventure all in one. We pray we can keep it on our terms and God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

Turning fun hobbies into business can be the best way to spoil a good hobby. But I believe there is both a psychological and emotional difference between loving what you do and a hobby. Now that I am retired, I\u2019ll be wandering between those differences. My goal is to maintain a proper balance.<\/p>\n

Certainly I will be blogging about my new adventures. – RD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s happened, the first time in over 40 years I am unemployed. Oh? Yeah, some folks call it retired. It was official yesterday; Last working day of February, 2015. I know it\u2019s a record run of continuous but varied employment most people don\u2019t experience. I always had the next employment in hand when I made the changes. This time I am at the far end of the tunnel with as of yet, no solid plan....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4],"tags":[163,160],"class_list":["post-3643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-musing","tag-family","tag-thought"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}