Gold watch? Or just another camera?

 

I've made a conscious effort this year to reject all the work I no longer want to do and to say "goodbye" to clients who are less than big fun with which to work. This past week I finally hit an inflection point and started turning every "work opportunity" down. On Monday I finished the post production on the last commercial obligation I had in progress. I have added no new jobs to the calendar and have, instead, been lining up trips to fun locations. Next week I'll be in Chicago and in late October I'll be spending at least a week in Montreal (my all time favorite city in all of north America). 

It was scary to stop working for clients. Note that I said, "for clients" as I want to make the distinction that I won't stop taking photographs or undertaking challenging projects, but I won't be doing any more projects that have as their impetus commercial success. It's scary because for the first 30 or so years of being an "adult" and being the owner of my own business my attention to work, details, billing and investing was crucial to provide for my family. To buy houses, pay for the kid's college, save for retirement, pay taxes and buy food. 

A number of years ago I hit a point, financially, at which I could retire but was too anxious about the future to do so. Now I have no reservations about discontinuing the money making part of my life and concentrating on doing stuff either because it's the right thing to do or because it's fun. 

I have shifted gears, mentally. It took a lot of time but I think I've finally learned to be comfortable flipping the switch from saving money to spending money that I've saved. It's a harder lesson to learn than one might think. Many people with a higher than average net worth actually have difficulty spending in retirement and often leave this world with far more money at the end of retirement than they had at the beginning. Hence the popularity of books like Die With Zero. 

The goal of many people is to retire while they are still physically fit enough to enjoy themselves. To take trips that involve walking and other forms of mobility. But sadly a huge percentage of people over 60 arrive at retirement with one or two (or more) long term health issues. And a list of pharmaceutical prescriptions. Problems with joints. Problems with blood sugar. Problems walking or standing. And far less energy than they thought they'd have when they were young and chained to a desk.

One of the fortunate things about owning one's own business and having a commitment to a particular sport is that one's odds of hitting retirement with knees, hips and lower back fully functional and pain free are better than average. I've been a life long competitive swimmer and unless I was out of town on business it was rare for me to miss a day of masters swimming. If we had jobs with early start times I tended to adjust and go to earlier practices. For a while, during the first year of the Covid epidemic I was hitting the pool at 6 in the morning. There is even a masters practice here in Austin, at another club, which starts at 5:30 a.m. and I've hit that practice from time to time when a schedule conflict arose. 

I'm heading into my 70s (a little over a month away) weighing about five pounds more than I did when I was in college ( Or, At University, for our UK readers.... but I always want to ask: which university???) and with the same blood pressure, energy and daily discipline as well. My energy levels don't seem to have fallen and my mental acuity seems intact (critics might say the jury is still out...). As many coaches and swimmers have said: Swimming is the Fountain of Youth.

But more than that staying healthy and feeling young is undoubtedly a state of mind. A point of view. A philosophy of intention. 

Resigning, "Acting your age", taking it easy, deserving a rest, and all the rest of the bad platitudes and advice about how to "gracefully" give up are incredibly ageist and self-debilitating. Sure, you can give up, pad around the house in slippers and sip Sanka but it's a trap and an ever shrinking cycle of defeat.

I prefer to think of "retirement" as being the next stage of potential accomplishment. Fewer distractions. More resources. And a life time of training. 

Here we go.