HOW
TO RETIRE HAPPY
Retirement With a Difference
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Retirement Advice
Be Happy While You Are Alive Because You Are a Long Time Dead!
Think about this quietly and carefully whether you are retired or not: Years from now, as you review your life, what will you regret not having done? Clearly, it won’t be to have worked longer and harder at your career. Just as telling, it won’t be that you didn’t watch more TV in retirement. No doubt you don’t want to leave this world with songs unsung that you would like to have sung. Thus, shouldn’t you start singing those songs today? Most people go to their graves regretting things they haven’t done. The easiest way to become one of them is by joining society’s chorus instead of singing your own songs. For this reason you may want to think of the top-10 reasons to retire early. Your retirement sentiments may turn out to be much different thereafter. Some things are important and some aren’t. It’s essential that you know how to tell the difference. If your life is a good case study in perpetual stress and turmoil, there’s no point in declaring: “I may not be here for a good time, but I’m here for a long time!” What’s the point of being here for a long time if you aren’t going to enjoy yourself? Henry David Thoreau warned us: “Oh, God, to reach the point of death and realize you have never lived at all.” Instead of wasting your time regretting what you didn’t do in your life, use the time to pursue some of them now. Most people who reach sixty-five or beyond look back on their lives in later years with regret. They wish they had set their priorities differently. They wish they hadn’t been as concerned about the little things and had spent more time doing the things they had wanted to do. In a recent survey a number of individuals, all over sixty years old, were asked what advice they would give themselves if they had life to live over. It may do you good to pay attention to the following six of their suggestions:
The good news is that it is never too late in your life — or too early, for that matter — to change direction, to be what you might have been. Of course, those who are resistant to change at thirty will be even more resistant to change at ninety-three. Don’t be one of them. If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have always been getting — well into infinity and beyond. Some people die at forty-five, but they have experienced a heck of a lot more happiness in those forty-five years than others who have lived to be ninety or one hundred. The reason is that they mastered the moment while they were alive. In this regard, a Scottish proverb advises, “Be happy while you are alive because you are a long time dead.” For independent-minded individuals, freedom contributes to a lot of their happiness. But freedom isn’t the ability to do what others are doing. On the contrary, freedom is the ability to do what the majority in society are afraid of doing on their own. Only when you are able to be creative and significantly different — even wildly eccentric — will you be free. You don’t want to end up on your deathbed pleading, “Lord, give me one more shot and I’ll give it all I got.” As the saying goes, “Get a life.” Not just an ordinary life. Get a great life. Get a focused, satisfying, balanced life instead of one filled with nothing but watching TV and other passive activities. Spare lots of time for family, friends, and leisure. Most important — don’t forget to spare time for yourself. Nothing that is human should be foreign to you. Make the small pleasures in life your biggest priorities. Wise people realize that the simple pleasures — nature, health, music, friendship, etc. — are the most satisfying. Have some perpetual small enjoyment in which you indulge daily. Never miss it, regardless of how busy you are. This will do wonders for your mental well-being. Indeed, it will do more for your happiness than acquiring the biggest and best of possessions. Call forth the best you can muster for living life to the fullest regardless of how limited your funds. The Greeks say, “When you are poor, it is important to have a good time.” So take the opportunity to drink quality wine or champagne with your friends at least once a week. This is especially important when you have something to celebrate — and even much more important when you don’t! Freedom and happiness are easier to attain than you think. Take your lesson from children. Don’t fret about the future. Don’t regret the past. Live only in the present. The happiness you have at any moment is the only happiness you can ever experience. Reminisce about your great yesterdays, hope for many interesting tomorrows, but, above all, ensure that you live today. Consider each day you haven’t laughed, played, and celebrated your life to be wasted. “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the songbird will come,” states a Chinese proverb. You were given three special gifts when you were born: the gifts of life, love, and laughter. Learn to share these gifts with the rest of the world — and the rest of the world will play happily with you. In the same vein, don’t lose touch with the craziness within yourself. Often one gets a reputation for mental stability simply because one doesn’t have enough courage to make a fool of oneself. Is it more important to live with zest or to have people think nice things about you? The point is, if you want to be truly alive, forget about what people think. Always question what your neighbors say or do or think. It is unwise to use the conduct of the majority in society as a viable precedent for your own life. Do so and you will be setting yourself up for much disappointment and disillusionment. What the majority pursue are seldom the things that bring happiness, satisfaction, and freedom to any individual’s life. Resist accepting society’s way of living as the right one. Your primary duty is to be yourself. Invent a lifestyle that expresses who you are. In the end, there is no right way of living. There is only your way. Determine your direction clearly before you choose the speed at which you want to travel. In Western society, most people today are in a hurry to get to places not worth going. Speed in life doesn’t count as much as direction. Indeed, where there is no direction, speed doesn’t count at all. To a large degree freedom entails nonattachment to what others can’t do without. Zen masters tell us that people become imprisoned by what they are most attached to: Cars. Houses. Money. Egos. Identities. Let go of your attachment to these things and you will be set free. Give up the idea of finding the seven secrets to living happily ever after. The secrets for living a full, rewarding, fulfilled, and enlightened life are not really secrets. These principles have been passed down through the ages but the majority of humans tend to discount them and follow principles that don’t work. “In the end these things matter most,” revealed Buddha. “How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you learn to let go?” When a friend offers to spend time with you either today or tomorrow, always choose today. No individual gets out of this world alive, so the ideal time to live, love, and laugh with your friends is always today. Spending as much time as possible with your friends is solid proof of your intention to live your life now — while you have it — and be dead later — when you are! It’s essential that you identify the resources most important for your present-day happiness. When money is lost, a little is lost. When time is lost, much more is lost. When health is lost, practically everything is gone. And when creative spirit is lost, there is nothing left. Get the picture? Life is a game in many ways. It is important to play the game here and now, in the present. Find a version of the game worth playing — a version that you truly enjoy. Ensure that you laugh and have fun, even when the score is not in your favor. You have to play the game of life with gusto, and if you get really good at it, you will miraculously transform your world — forever! After all, it’s all in how you play the game, isn’t it?
Note: This article first appeared in the book 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting and was also featured in the book 65 Things to Do When You Retire by Sellers Publishing.
About the Author Ernie J. Zelinski is an international best-selling author, professional speaker, and prosperity life coach specializing in creating inspirational life-changing books, websites, e-books, and seminars. Ernie is the author of the international bestsellers The Joy of Not Working (over 315,000 copies sold) and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (over 425,000 copies sold), two life-changing books that have helped hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world achieve a more wholesome life. Ernie's core message — that ordinary people can attain extraordinary results and make a big difference in this world — is at the heart of his work. Ernie deeply believes in the powers of creativity and well-intentioned action as the most important elements for attaining personal prosperity and financial freedom. See more about The World's Best Retirement Book. There is life after retirement, and it is BETTER. If we wait until retirement to enjoy ourselves, For more great retirement quotes see The Retirement Quotes Cafe: Are You Afraid of Getting Bored
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Home > Top-10 Reasons to Retire Early > Be Happy While You Are Alive Because You Are a Long Time Dead
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A gold watch is the most appropriate gift for retirement, as its recipients have given up so many of their golden hours in a lifetime of service.
— Harry Mahtar
The requirements for successful retirements
are, of course, simple to map out: Begin saving earlier in life, set aside larger
percentages of your pay, invest wisely in low-cost funds, avoid debt, pay off
your mortgage, defer Social Security to boost payouts, and work past traditional
retirement age to make sure you don't run out of money. Stay healthy, too, so your medical expenses don't eat you alive.
We might as well complete this fairy tale by advising you to make sure you find a job with a traditional pension, and
to only work for employers with AAA credit
ratings and great health insurance.
— from US NEWS
Sometimes it's important to work for that
pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply
consists of choosing which color to slide
down on the rainbow.
— Douglas Pagels
OVER 425,000 COPIES SOLD
Purchase:
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com
and
How to Retire Happy, Wild, & Free on B&N.com
Everyone needs a reason to put their shoes on in the morning [when they retire]. If you put on the slippers, you'll end up
dragging your feet all day.
— Norma Fagan
OVER 315,000 COPIES SOLD
Purchase:
The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com
Whatever the challenge of a new age, in the end what really counts is not the years in our lives but the life in our years. It is not about longevity, but the depth of life. Long ago I learned that age does not wither the mind if people remain positive. No one is too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. It is a mind game. As Churchill suggested, "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."
— Singapore Retiree Jennie Chau
A CAREER BOOK FOR RETIREES WHO WANT TO WORK IN RETIREMENT BUT NOT IN CORPORATIONS
CAREER SUCCESS WITHOUT A REAL JOB
Purchase:
Career Success Without a Real Job on Amazon.com
and