Some of my insights on retirement as someone working overtime
- Thread starter CareerBoxer
- Start date
I haven't retired yet obviously (haha or this site wouldn't exist!). But I got to spend time with a veteran teacher that was on her last year teaching as I was a young teacher at the time. The thing is, she was my daily mentor at work, and when she retired, she invited me to her home and we talked about life.
I will never forget what she told me at the time she retired. Let me tell you. She was a juggernaut of a staff. She would work hours and hours and the work showed. She worked for the same school most of her career; decades. She tried to retire couple of times but was lured back into work due to teacher shortages. When retirement came, I am not sure what exactly the reason was, but I have to presume she was just at peace. She told me that she thought she'd miss it more this time (since again it wasn't technically her first time trying to retire but this one was official), but she just didn't really think about it anymore. She got to move back to her hometown, and spend more time with her family. Finances were finally not a humongous problem anymore, and she had all the people at home she needed.
I think we can easily forget what we work for. The pursuit is nice when we work crazy hard. It's nice to see some results as we do so. The pay can be nice sometimes (or not lol). But in the end of the day, I think we have to recognize that this hard work culture that's unfortunately necessary for most of us in this generation is not the norm and we, as a society, should keep voicing for or problem solving for change. Whether that be in politics or in the startup space. Home ownership should not be out of reach. There should be a culture of respect between employers and employees, even if the company have to lay people off. We should be able to afford to have kids, so we can experience another stage of love and don't die alone as we age.
Keep working hard and don't ignore the reality of whatever situation you are in. If you're the lucky few that can live a balanced 8-5 and live the American Dream all the best to you. If you're hustling and trying to see if you will ever have a normal life, you are not alone and ignoring it or being careless won't help either so keep doing what you are doing. My dream is to be successful with startups and invest in tackling the housing problem. On top of that, a website not too different than CareerBoxer.com but for extremely advanced engineers to help create innovation in urban tech (transportation, environmental even).
Anyways wanted to share this with you guys as it was one of the foundational chapters of my life. And I got to experience it since I took the risk on teaching in the north of nowhere in Lassen County (more about it on my post here: https://careerboxer.com/r/354249/ - Rural schools).
Whatever you do, even if you have to start over, don't give up. Enjoy life whenever you can responsibly. Take care.
I will never forget what she told me at the time she retired. Let me tell you. She was a juggernaut of a staff. She would work hours and hours and the work showed. She worked for the same school most of her career; decades. She tried to retire couple of times but was lured back into work due to teacher shortages. When retirement came, I am not sure what exactly the reason was, but I have to presume she was just at peace. She told me that she thought she'd miss it more this time (since again it wasn't technically her first time trying to retire but this one was official), but she just didn't really think about it anymore. She got to move back to her hometown, and spend more time with her family. Finances were finally not a humongous problem anymore, and she had all the people at home she needed.
I think we can easily forget what we work for. The pursuit is nice when we work crazy hard. It's nice to see some results as we do so. The pay can be nice sometimes (or not lol). But in the end of the day, I think we have to recognize that this hard work culture that's unfortunately necessary for most of us in this generation is not the norm and we, as a society, should keep voicing for or problem solving for change. Whether that be in politics or in the startup space. Home ownership should not be out of reach. There should be a culture of respect between employers and employees, even if the company have to lay people off. We should be able to afford to have kids, so we can experience another stage of love and don't die alone as we age.
Keep working hard and don't ignore the reality of whatever situation you are in. If you're the lucky few that can live a balanced 8-5 and live the American Dream all the best to you. If you're hustling and trying to see if you will ever have a normal life, you are not alone and ignoring it or being careless won't help either so keep doing what you are doing. My dream is to be successful with startups and invest in tackling the housing problem. On top of that, a website not too different than CareerBoxer.com but for extremely advanced engineers to help create innovation in urban tech (transportation, environmental even).
Anyways wanted to share this with you guys as it was one of the foundational chapters of my life. And I got to experience it since I took the risk on teaching in the north of nowhere in Lassen County (more about it on my post here: https://careerboxer.com/r/354249/ - Rural schools).
Whatever you do, even if you have to start over, don't give up. Enjoy life whenever you can responsibly. Take care.
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