The countdown is on. I have twenty-five more working days before I leave my job of fourteen years. I will be leaping into a new life of adventure, creativity, family, and purpose. While I’m more than excited to set out on this new journey, my recent days have occasioned a serving or two of indecision, anxiety, and fear. Fear that I’m making the wrong decision. Or, this is the wrong time. Or, I haven’t fully thought this through–you know, fear’s normal exploits and tricks.
When I’m able to stay in a place of wholeness and balance, I can recognize these fears for what they are–my ego attempting to get me to stay within the safe and predictable confines of the status quo. While I’m appreciative to have this built-in safety mechanism, I’m not willing to pass up this opportunity to leap and try something new!
Fighting off indecision
This isn’t the first time I have faced pre-purchase buyer’s remorse. Over the years I routinely battle with the desire to come up with a plan. A plan for everything! And, not just any plan! The best plan! The plan that has foreseen all opportunities, potential threats, and has already planned how to best handle those. Occasionally, this serves me well; often, it leads to me bobbing up-and-down in an ocean of indecision and procrastination.
Thankfully, I have learned a few lessons over the years that can help me to swim back to shore and keep moving forward. The tricks that help me can possibly help you as well.
Three tips to overcome early retirement indecision
Remember why you’re doing this in the first place. In this specific circumstance, my why is to be able to travel, adventure, and create with my beloved wife and darling daughters. I want to do this while we still have our health and before our girls set out to their own lives. With Claire, our oldest(14-years), there are less than a handful of years before she’s in full control of her journey. While I have no doubt that we’ll continue to be a major part of her adult life, there are no guarantees and circumstances will most definitely be different. For our youngest daughter, Lilah(9-years), we’ve got a few more years, but it’s only 9 more summers, 9 more Christmases, 9 more wonderful years that I hope to fill with intention and really getting to know this unique little lady.
Next, just be grateful that you’re in a position to make a choice. I feel extremely fortunate to be in a place where I have the freedom and privilege to choose my road. Not everyone does. That alone should spark a fire to move forward and resist the urge to stagnate with indecision. Life is too short to plan out every single detail and try to foresee every potential pitfall that lay afore you. Don’t be foolish, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes and occasionally look like a fool. Learn from your mistakes; iterate and problem solve; then, take the next step forward.
Gratitude almost always can bring me back to a place of wholeness. I will often journal on those things for which I’m grateful; I will meditate on them. I will make special occasions to show it to those with whom I’m grateful. Gratitude is a magical thing! Unfortunately, I spent a lot of my younger life thinking that showing others gratitude would make them soft and make me appear weak. It sounds ridiculous now, but back then, it was definitely my truth. If this is your current truth, I challenge you to test it–you can thank me later!
Lean into the unknown
I was listening to a speaker at a tech conference a couple of years ago. During her talk, she explained her decision to leave the comfort and predictability of her job and apply for a job at Google. This job was completely outside her area of expertise and she felt like an impostor even applying for this position. She thought “who am I to think I’m worthy of working for an organization like Google”? Ultimately, she said that she had to embrace the discomfort, overcome her fears, and do this obstinate thing.
In her current job, she was an expert. She knew how to deal with tough situations because she had fought them for years. Because of this, she knew all four corners of her garden. She wanted to learn and experience something more. She wanted to lean into curiosity. Above all she wanted to wonder and become the type of person who could courageously face-off against the voices in her head telling her that she’s not good enough.
She ultimately did!
Sylvie landed this dream job. She is now using her experience and platform to encourage others to do the same–it worked for me!
The word retirement
While I don’t consider myself to be moving into retirement in the traditional sense–living a life that consists of relaxation and recreation only. I have used the word “retire” or “mini-retirement” to explain my soon-to-be life. I’m forty years young and the idea of never “working” again isn’t something that I am drawn to.
I will work. I will do stuff on the occasion that I don’t enjoy, but I will never(unless the crap really hits the fan) have to be in a place where I’m required to trade away my time for someone else’s money. Our assets(real estate) and money(stocks) will be providing our family with the financial means to pay our bills and live a pretty standard life. However, I really enjoy creating solutions and solving problems. As a result, I hope that I can keep doing that until my dying days.
The work that I’m super excited about doing in early retirement
- Being a volunteer ski-patroller
- Co-hosting a podcast with my wife!
- Volunteering with non-profits like Outward Bound or Junior Achievement
- Building this business (GoBucketYourself)
- Writing a book about my adventures on my upcoming Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike
Some of that work will make me money, much of it won’t. That’s fine, I’m ready for a life of not trying to always optimize(see: Plan) and to be okay with doing work simply because it aligns with my virtues, not because of a great paycheck or benefits.
What's Next?
- Finalizing my remaining working days with my employer and wrapping up those projects.
- Deciding how to best handle my 401(k) and pension retirement accounts with my existing employer
- Preparing for open-enrollment through the ACA (Affordable Care Act/Obama-care)
I will write about this in the future, it's a question I have got a lot. - My family and I will be doing a hut trip this year for Thanksgiving. We'll be packing in our turkey-day meal, by way of snowshoes and skis, for 6 miles to an off-grid mountain cabin to celebrate and give thanks!
I won't be returning to work after Thanksgiving, so technically, this is one hell of a long Thanksgiving break!
- Does early “retirement” have any appeal to you?
- Where have you fought with stagnation and indecision?
- Drop a comment below and let’s chat!