“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~Mark Twain~
It is kind of serendipitous that this blog post is about leaving safe harbors and I live in a town named Safety Harbor. Safety Harbor, back in the 18th century, was considered a safe haven from pirates, located on the western coast of Old Tampa Bay. It has that eclectic old town charm, for the most part, and is a great place to enjoy livin’ the Florida lifestyle.
But I digress, as this isn’t about the town I live in. It’s about my desire to take the boat out of the safety of the harbor and explore a new, different, more creative ocean – one called retirement. You may have heard the quote “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for,” attributed to John A. Shedd? Well, I’ve spent over 50 years of my life working, 35 of those years within the structure and confines of corporate America. I have been moored to jobs, to earn a living, to pay off student loans and bills, to enjoy a bit of entertainment, and to take a much needed vacation here and there. I have paid my dues and my taxes. And I have decided it’s time to release the bowlines and float away from all that.
So, okay, enough boat metaphors! Honestly, the only boat I have is a kayak, although I do hope to get that out on the water a bit more. My decision to “retire” from corporate America has been a long time coming. Had I become a bit wiser a bit sooner, I would have prepared myself better and done this earlier in life. But I grew up in a time where the work ethic was pretty much either “work ‘til you can’t work no more,” or you “work ‘til you die,” whichever comes first.
I seriously started working toward making retirement a viable alternative back in 2008. While I didn’t consciously decide when I was going to retire, I simply – fortunately – made the right decisions that allowed me to get from there to here. I sold my house in Maryland and moved to Florida. I managed to sell my home right before the housing market collapsed and the economy tanked. Timing is everything, isn’t it? I made a few bucks on the sale, packed up my car and my four cats and drove 17 hours to my new apartment home in Florida. I paid off my credit cards and vowed I would never accumulate that type of debt again. Debt would be limited to buying a new home (which I did), and perhaps a new car if needed.
I’ve stuck to that. I was fortunate to have some cash when I moved because it took me over 9 months to land a job during the recession. And, for the most part, I enjoyed the job I found. Until I didn’t. I spent 12 years with this particular company, first a privately held 50+ employee company; bought by a 5,000-employee corporation, which then merged with another company to became a 15,000-employee, publicly-traded corporation, which is now in the process of being acquired by a 300,000-employee, publicly-traded corporation. Big fish eating little fish. This teeny-tiny fish decided it was time to high-fin it out of these shark-infested waters.
I’ll admit my decision was perhaps a bit easier than it would be for many – I am married, so we have other income. Our only debt is our house, which we were able to refinance when the interest rates dropped, as well as shorten the life of the loan. Our cars are paid for. We have no credit card debt. We don’t overspend. Honestly? We want for nothing. We are abundant in every way I can think of. And while I may lament the fact that I could have made this move sooner, had I been smarter, faster – it doesn’t matter. The reality is that all roads – all the roads I’ve traveled – led to right here, right now. Everything had to happen exactly as it did or I wouldn’t be here now, retired, writing this.
And it is this road which is also providing me with the ability to explore, dream, and discover, as Mark Twain suggested we all do.
Namaste 🙏
~jwb~