Retirement and Full Time Living in a Recreational Vehicle - What Are You
Going to Do With Yourself?
By
Janice L Evans
What are you going to do with yourself when you retire?
If you dream of packing up the motor home, or the fifth wheel, or the travel
trailer, and leaving it all behind, that is great...but then what? You can
only travel and play tourist for so long before boredom sets in. You are no
longer on vacation, where you plan endless destinations and excitement to
entertain yourself for ten days, and then return home to your real life.
This is now your real life, and it is going to go on for a long time, so I
suggest right now, while you are still in the planning stages, you ask
yourself some hard questions, and the first one to ask is, what does
retirement mean to me?
You must be very, very honest with yourself. If your job is your life, and
at the end of each day, you have no further plans, nothing exciting to look
forward to, no hobbies or skill sets to escape to, what are you going to do
with the rest of your life? Yes, I know you are going to travel, and see the
country, but you know what? After awhile, the rest of the country all starts
to look the same, with a few fabulous, fantastic sights thrown in to relieve
the boredom...then what?
How many museums can you visit? How many sightseeing tours can you take? How
many different states can you visit? Yes, yes I know, it is going to be very
exciting for the first couple of years, but then you will start to consider
your options. Well, we've already been there, done that. Now what are we
going to do?
Many, many couples, who are excited about their new life of freedom, end up
leaving the road, selling the motor home, going back to stix and brix, and
getting a job, because they did not plan ahead for the what ifs. They
thought their retirement life was just going to consist of the pleasure of
rolling down the road to the next destination. They never took into
consideration that 75% of your time consists of the day to day grind of just
living life, cleaning the house, buying the groceries, cooking the meals,
and only about 25% is the excitement of being free, living the life of
riley.
When we began planning our retirement, I knew that I would never be able to
sit still, and do nothing. I knew that I would always need to work at
something, be it creating craft projects to sell, volunteering at different
churches around the country, or maybe volunteering at State or National
Parks, there was no doubt in my mind that I would need something to keep me
occupied.
As the Activities Directors for a large RV park, one of the first questions
we were asked, "what kind of entertainment are you going to provide for the
men? They need something to do." Huh? Having a very self sufficient husband,
who has no problem finding something productive to do, I must admit I was
totally taken aback, and truly did not have an answer.
We set up golf tournaments twice per week, and horseshoe tournaments every
day at four o'clock. The guys set up a day that they all went out to lunch,
and they played poker in the evenings twice per week...but you get my point?
Can you really live like that for the next twenty years?
What is the answer? In a recent article that I read, a gentleman stated that
in his opinion, being retired meant having the financial freedom to do what
you loved without worrying about whether you could make money at it or not.
I tend to agree. Think of something you are so passionate about, that you
are excited to get up every morning to make it happen. Figure out a way you
can make your dream happen in your retirement years, then go forth and
prosper.
About the Author:
Written by: Janice L Evans.
At our website
http://readytogofulltimerving.com/retirement-recreational-vehiclehow-happen
we discuss tips and tricks to make your retirement happen.
We retired at a very young age, 56 and 51, respectively. We were too young
to touch our retirement savings, and we knew that the rest of our life, was
going to be for a very, very long time.
We will share the avenues we took to make it all happen, and how we are able
to do what we love, while still making money on the road.
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