In 1881, a German guy named Otto, he came out with a radical idea during that era – why don’t we all stop working at some point, and just enjoy life (plus government funded pension)? The idea was crazy because back then people simply did not retire, they worked till they died. Hence in modern history, German government is the first to create retirement system.
I’m not a crazy German and I don’t have the shocked-by-electricity hairstyle, but I do have a crazy idea too. Why do we only retire when we are old? Why can’t we retire now? Retire a few times throughout our lives? That’s what I did. I always fancy the idea of having small breaks between the entire career life, you see if we are lucky we will have to work for at least 40 years, if we are unlucky we are going to work even longer. By the time we retire at let’s say 67, now that we have the time and money (not guaranteed though), but do we still have enough energy?
Just imagine we are like smartphones or computers, when we just started working we are like the fastest computers, work fast, no lags, can take in long hours. But after a while we might be like computers infected by viruses, carrying too much loads or junk files, not enough memories, we slow down.
What do we do when our phones slow down? We’d try to debug, install upgrades .. if we send to repair centre the first thing technician would do is to restore everything back to factory setting. I have a degree in computer engineering. Just in case you think we will take time to debug or fix problems most of the time we would just press the reboot button!
We all need this reboot button in our lives once in a while too.
3 Reasons To Have Mini Retirements
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It refreshes my passions for life. I didn’t have the time to do things that I want as I was so consumed at work, but with a mini retirement I have the time to pursue my interests. I signed up for over 20 workshops to learn new skills, travelled to places I haven’t been, and built a small business from scratch. It opens up opportunities to do things that we might otherwise have never done. If not because of the time off I wouldn’t be in toastmasters today! No one pushed me to do any of these but I was so engaged and energized, I found what I love to do in the process.
Lastly, a retirement is a great chance to reconnect with people that truly matter. I removed contacts with all toxic people in life and spent more time with people I love. As a foreigner here I got to travel back to hometown more often to visit my family and spend more quality time with my partner and best friends. What is the point if we have success at work but no one to share with? I rather to have a small circle of people I love than a social media account with thousands of friends. People are not here forever, treasure them before they are gone.
Life is not just about making money or advancing a career—it’s about experiencing as much as we can and connections that we make with others. We are human beings, not human doings. Be in the moments and enjoy life. Retire now, work later 😉
