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Jim Bob
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Part-time photographer ๐Ÿ“ท โ†’ full-time nerd ๐Ÿค“ โ†’ avid mountain biker ๐Ÿšต๐Ÿผโ€โ™‚๏ธโ†’ vinyl enthusiast ๐ŸŽง #Bitcoin

Merry Christmas, Duchess!

Replying to Avatar Contra

The Retirement Lie Will Ruin Your Life

Retirement, as we imagine it, is a modern myth. A 30-year vacation sold after World War II to make the grind of work seem worth it. But it carries a hidden poison: the belief that work is something to escape rather than something to be fulfilled by.

We are told to endure our 30s and 40s so we can finally live in our 60s. It is the TGIF mindset stretched across a lifetime. If Friday is salvation, then Monday through Thursday, and by extension our working years, are a form of suffering to be endured. Every project becomes a transaction. Every morning becomes a countdown to freedom.

That vision of life leads nowhere good. When you finally โ€œmake it,โ€ what is left? Endless leisure sounds like paradise until you realize it starves the soul. Humans are not built for permanent rest. We are built for creation, cultivation, and meaningful contribution.

Look at those who have changed the world. They did not work to retire; they worked because the work itself mattered. They were driven by curiosity, craft, and impact, not escape. That impulse is not rare genius. It is the human default when purpose and effort align.

The tragedy of retirement culture is not that people stop working. It is that they spend decades believing work is something to run from. They hate their jobs, resent responsibility, and dream of quitting until quitting finally arrives and meaning disappears with it.

The answer is not to grind yourself into the grave. It is to never stop engaging productively with the world. True fulfillment comes when we see work not as punishment but as participation in something greater. Retirement should be a shift in pace, not a surrender of purpose.

Some will push back at this idea. They believe that once they reach the goal, they will be the exception. They think the emptiness will not touch them. But look around. The older generation right now is among the most unhappy groups you will ever meet. Now you know why.

If your life strategy is built around escaping productivity, you have already lost. The goal is not to retire. The goal is to find work worth doing until you can no longer do it.

Stop planning your escape. Start planning your contribution. Life begins the moment you stop running from work and start building something that matters.

Now build.

Spot on. The number of people I know who retired and then died within a year is depressing.

Welcome back nostr:nprofile1qqs2jy6jwcfsyqmpfp3tjggt505n4vnemqn3jcf6t3qw2e426mg7k9cpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejsz8rhwden5te0dehhxarj9e3xjarrda5kuetj9eek7cmfv9kqy96052! Summer was amazing. Visited the land of my ancestry in Switzerland, and then explored some of Northern Italy. Lago di Como and the Cinque Terre were wondrous! There is so much beauty in this world, if we will but open our eyes to behold it.

The back channel is the best at conferences!

The beast of my collection. Spans two burners on a stove or Camp Chef. Built to feed a crowd and last forever!

Heading there next month! So excited.

Best thing in the world. Love it, live it, remember it. Half of my kids are adults now, and the other half are long past that stage. I miss it.

Gives new meaning to โ€œ2-in-1โ€! ๐Ÿ˜‚