Are you putting off living your life to the full, and being happy until retirement? Or until you have a certain amount of money, or get the right job?
Uglydebty linked to a story about a young couple who are making sacrifices so they can retire at age 40. They didn't sound all that happy to me. Why not enjoy work and retirement? Whats so wrong with working that so many people hate it so much? Or is whingeing about work a habit?
I've read lots of blog posts from people who want to retire early and from people who hate their jobs but insist they are STUCK in them. I think all the focus on early retirement misses point.
It's not early retirement, or a million dollars in the bank that makes someone happy, it's thier attitude.
I'd rather be happy now, AND be happy when I retire. So I work in jobs that I love, and I don't ever see myself retiring completely from work. If I have to choose 45 years of job misery to retire rich I'll pass thanks!
Someone told me a few days ago that I was very LUCKY to enjoy my work, and very LUCKY to have the job offers and choices that I have now. They went on to explain/ whinge that they were still 'stuck' in their job, which they hated, because they have commitments. Like so many others they are waiting till retirement to enjoy themselves.
I used to work with this person 28 years ago, they are still in the same job!!!, still miserable, still blaming everyone else but themselves for their predicament. And most annoying, envying me for choosing to be happy and enjoy what I do! She's in a comfortable rut of misery, and my success challenges the belief that she doesn't have to be there.
I replied that it had nothing to do with luck!
You CAN choose to be happy in your job and in your life, even if it's not perfect, and you can choose to do work towards a career that's personally satisfying. It's fine to change jobs and try new things. Why limit yourself?
Or if you choose to stay in a job that's unsatisfying, find satisfaction outside of work, but don't wait for a future date to be happy and fulfilled. Being frugal does not mean you need to be miserable, or a martyr, or stuck in a job you hate for the next 50 years! As someone wise once said: " get off the cross we need the wood!
I get up every day and love to go to work. I really do. When I stop enjoying it, it's time to move on. In 28 years of working life I have only ever resigned from one job where I had another job lined up to go to. By the time I have worked out my notice (2 weeks) I have always found or been offered another job.
Am I special? No. I really am very average.
Did I get a lucky break? No, I made my own luck.
All I did was work out what I like to do in a job and 'head in the general direction' to get more of it. Whenever I've been offered the opportunity to learn a new skill, or work in a different area I said 'YES'! If you consistently do this you will gain so many skills and you get known as someone who will get in and have a go, so then even more opportunities come to you.
Don't be afraid to try things you haven't done before in the workplace. If you enjoy your work, it shows, and people would rather work with someone who is positive than someone who just whinges about everything (like the person who prompted this post). Who wants to hire a sad sack?
My first job out of university paid less than what my teenage daughter was earning as a sales assistant. A lot of people told me wait till a better paying job came along. But it got me the experience I needed so I took it. That was only four years ago, it paid me $17.80 an hour. Now my hourly rate as a consultant is $110 - $200.
Was it luck?
NO!
I worked hard, I did things that other people didn't want to do.
So why am I all fired up about this? Well, the person who told me I was LUCKY is someone I completed my very first qualification with when I left school at 18. She has no idea of any of the obstacles that I have faced, all of which could have been excuses for me to stay STUCK. And talking with her bought back memories of some other friends I had when I was 18. Friends that didn't get the luxury of having a life and all it's associated problems to complain about.
Mary was my best friend all through high school. We did everything teenage girls do together and often talked about the holidays we would take together once we earned some money. We had both left school only a few months, I had my first job and we were full of plans for the future.
Life looked good at 18!
It was the end of summer. A group of friends arranged that we would go out bowling the next day. I slept in and decided not to go, I planned to call Mary later that night and arrange to catch up with everyone the next weekend instead.
Mary, her boyfriend, and his brother were all killed in a head on smash on the way home from bowling. They were just driving along well under the speed limit, when a car crossed two lanes and hit them head on.
Mary didn't get a chance to do any of the things that she had planned for her life. It was all over in the blink of an eye.
Later the same year another of our friends was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She died before she was 20 years old, leaving a baby daughter.
So these things shaped my attitude to choosing happiness.
Life is precious, and it's short.
So do you give up because it's short and sometimes it's hard? ...
Do you join the ranks of the whingers and blamers and just avoid suceeding in life because it's risky?
... or do you jump in, and grab Life with both hands and make the most of every moment you have?
After Mary died I knew I could not get up every day and do something that I didn't believe in, or do something that made me miserable every day.I don't know how many days I have, so I decided not to waste any of them, just in case.
I knew I wasn't going to wait till I was old to enjoy myself. Because growing old is a privilege that we shouldn't take for granted. When I want to have a whinge about grey hairs, hot flushes and stretch marks, I remind myself that I have been fortunate to experience the ups and downs of life.
When this person was going on about how LUCKY I was yesterday, I felt really annoyed and I thought of this brilliant post about people who make excuses:
Is your but too big?Don't put off your happiness till later, we can't choose everything that happens to us, but we can choose our attitude.
... and they will cost $560! I've been getting headaches at the end of the day for a while now. And I notice my eyes are 'tired' after working on the computer for a few hours. I just put it down to being a bit stressed and working long hours lately. I did notice that at night when I drive home I was a bit 'squinty' but again I just put it down to tiredness at the end of a long day at work.
I'm trying to find some time on the weekends to relax and enjoy myself with things that I haven't had time to do for the last few years. So finding ways to have 'frugal fun' for less than $20 is one of our new goals. Our frugal fun this weekend was to go bushwalking and it was fantastic! I just love getting out in the quiet and the open spaces. Here are the pics of our day in the Blue Mountains. Our only costs were $12 for a hot meal to warm us up at the end of the day.
