Hi:
Lots of people talk about reaching their goals, but most of us just settle into a comfortable lifestyle that is easy. Sure they'd like to something else, do more, travel, whatever. In reality it is just too much work, or underneath they are afraid, or a myriad of other reasons are holding them back.
When we talk to our friends and acquiantances about traveling around the world for a year, to a person everyone wants to do it. But packing up a house is a lot of work. Getting rid of stuff is painful. Doing the organizing of storage, medical insurance, rejigging financial affairs takes time. But more than anything, it takes guts to set such a momentus goal and go for it. This is particularly true when we all have the stuff of life around us and habits of living. No problem, or different problems for twenty-somethings, but mid-life rearranging of everything you have worked for takes fortitude.
What we have been learning through this process is how to move from a consumer-based lifestyle to a freedom-based lifestyle. Wow we own a lot of stuff. Books are particularly hard to part with, as is furniture that has sentimental value. We will store much and sell/get rid of much. As we get our house recarpeted and pack at the same time, the volume of things we own is astronomical. And I don't think I'm any worse than many women; in fact I know I accumulate less. But there it is.
If you want to rearrange your life at retirement, better start now. Do your travelling earlier rather than later.
Mahara
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