Don’t Wait Until Retirement to Do the Things You Love
Feeling unsatisfied with your career? Considering a change but not sure what you want? Pinpoint what hobby you are most looking forward to doing once you retire…and do that. So many people say they didn’t figure out what they truly enjoyed in life, until they’d retired. It’s common to hear older people say that they’ve stopped caring what others think and are now doing what they really love.
There’s a self-confidence that comes with age and experience that allows you to see what’s really important in life, which is happiness and feeling personally fulfilled.Once earning money is taken out of the equation, people seem to allow themselves to explore their interests and they are often things that have been under their nose throughout their whole rigid working lives. Things they felt too judged or irresponsible to pursue.
1. Learn From Society
Society tells us to make a choice after school or college and stick with it. We are expected to steadily climb one sensible ladder until, well, we are too old and frail to continue. That doesn’t sound like much fun at all! No wonder people are happier once they’ve stopped!
And that’s what you can try. Just stop what you’re doing right now! Don’t dramatically quit and do a naked victory lap around the office just yet, but take a well-earned break! What do retired people have in common? They have TIME. They have time to think about, who they are, what they want and to feel FREE.
2. Retirement Mindset
Get into this retirement mindset by stripping away what you’ve done up until now and stop worrying about how others perceive you. Take a couple of days off. Hell, take two weeks off! But make sure those days or weeks are spent alone, somewhere you can reflect and relax.
Lie down, breath deep and let whatever fantasies that make you feel most excited come into your mind (let’s keep it career-related though!). Don’t over think it and don’t try to be logical or tell yourself, “Not that because it’s impossible”. Let yourself explore things that make you feel the most validated and content. You can worry about the practical side later.
3. Think About The Day
Don’t focus on any resulting glory or how to make others perceive you as successful. Think about the day to day and what would suit your character. What could you do for hours on end and not get bored or distracted? What gives you a buzz of excitement? You don’t even have to imagine a specific job! Just try to discover what stimulates you. For example, if you love to socialize and make people feel special, maybe you would enjoy working in PR.
4. Become The Best
Try not to freak out about money! If you are undeniably good at something, the money will come. People often restrict their passions to being hobbies as they think they won’t be profitable but if you are dedicated and have the enthusiasm to become the best then you shouldn’t have a problem. The prospect of becoming the best should not be too intimidating; as you should feel confident once you’ve discovered your calling.
5. Final Destination
If you don’t, maybe keep searching and don’t rush yourself! finally if you’re worried about what others will think, just know that a change of career does not make you a failure and isn’t giving up! Everything we do leads to the final destination and we learn lessons along the way. Discovering what you don’t like is as essential as knowing what you do like in order to find the right thing for you.
