About retirement

Just the other night, I was "listening in" to my brother's conversation with my mom. He was asking her if she had thought of what she wanna do when she retires (which, isn't very far away..).

My mom doesn't have any solid plans as yet and my guess is, she doesn't know what she'll do when that time comes and would probably work till before you know it, time's up.

Which kinda got me thinking. Retiring had always been one of the things I fear most. (yeah, I know, its still kinda far to think about it now, but hey, time flies you know). When I just graduated from poly, I took a grand total of 5 months to find a permanent job, and during this period, I sat at home, surfing, watching tv, eating, sleeping and growing fat. In other words, wasting my life away.

Many people might think that hey, that's a very good life, wake up when you want to, sleep when you want to, go wherever you want to, but to me, I find it so fucking boring and unbearable. Man, I really CANNOT imagine what's it gonna be like when I retire.

I mean, yeah, its nice to lead such a life once in a while, in between, taking leaves and such to settle your stuff and spend some time with yaself, but if you were to do it full time, its NOT enjoyable. UNLESS of course you have ALOT of $$$$ then maybe it'll be a different story altogether.

I think I'm one of these "hyper" beings who cannot do without any activity. It will bore me to tears. I need to have something that will at least keep me occupied, and I need variety, too much of the things I enjoy doing (a.k.a TV) will make me sick also.

Another issue that I ALWAYS get when I bum around (apart from lack of vitamin M) is growing FAT. Cos there's nothing to do, so you eat and watch tv all day and you end up looking so hideous after that.

I don't know about others, but I often find it kinda weird or difficult to "rejoin" the society when I have bummed for so long? And cos you have grown fatter, you start becoming overly conscious of yourself.

Anyways.

I remember my dad talking about how retiring ain't exactly THAT fantastic also, cos we have worked and gone thru so much activity for the bulk of our lives (be it studying or working or both) such that our bodies cannot stop.

Once we stop, inactivity kills us. I've heard how many distant relatives, when they stopped working altogether (after having slogged their ass off for so long) never lived passed another year. Health problems just keep coming and they become regular visitors of the hospital.

Heh. Definately not anybody's idea of retirement. I've read from somewhere before (can't remember where) that human beings all need a certain amount of stress. The brain functions in such a way that a little bit of stress is good for us all, but of course not too much. No stress at all will constitute to brain degeneration. (and then you become senile)

OMG. I cannot imagine myself losing my mind when I grow older. Brain degeneration is one of the things that scare me the most.

Anyways.

If you had ALOT of $$$$ to burn when that time comes, then maybe you can REALLY enjoy life, and travel around the world in eighty days. Haha! But, is the idea of travelling all over the world FULL TIME when you are old THAT enticing to be so looking forward to?

I wonder.

So, have you thought of what ya gonna do when you retire? =)