Always have a toothpick handy!

In my ”about” bio at the top of the page,  I mentioned that I moved to South America in 2004 to retire and work on my Spanish.  It was a great plan!  What I didn’t tell you is that everything in retirement didn’t work out exactly how I planned it.  If it had, I would probably still be relaxing in Ecuador. 

Before I explain what happened I have to share a funny line I heard from one of my co-workers in August of 2004.  We were talking about my upcoming decision to retire and he said, “I myself have also planned well for retirement.  I have saved enough money over the years so that I will be able to live like a king for the rest of my life….. that is, as long as I die by February of 05′!!! ”

That line really cracked me up when he said it.  Little did I know that life was going to throw a bit of a curve at me making my real retirement eerily similar to his tongue-in-cheek witicism.   Without going into all the gory details I am bemused to tell you that I went broke!  I lost it all due to some poor choices and a little bad luck.  Now I find myself starting over again at the age of 61 and I have to say, I have never been happier!

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be! 

I spent so many years on the fast track in Las Vegas trying to amass all the goodies and toys that I could.  I thought that that was how you kept score.  You need to amass all the material things that you could.   WRONG!   All that approach does is give you ulcers with worry and constant stress and anxiety.  I now know that instead of increasing my material wants, I should have been decreasing my material desires. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like money as well as the next person because it gives you a security and freedom to do the things you want for yourself and your loved ones.  Where I went wrong was  thinking that the only reason for doing something was to make money.   The correct thinking should have been, and still is, the truism;

You will get everything in life that you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want! 

I realize I have lost my money but I haven’t lost my wealth.   I have my health, my talent and a new zest for life that has been missing for many years.  

I wandered around with no direction for about 18 months.  I was a headless vector!  I finalized a “War of the Roses”  type of divorce and went through a bankruptcy.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until my son gave me the idea of starting this blog.  I now see the real mission of my life.  I not only want to rise out of the ashes myself but with your help maybe assist others who are in the same boat as me.  I realize I am in the autumn of my life but I have never been more jazzed and motivated than I am right now.  

I’m not worried about dying…I’m now worried about not living!

No one wants to die.  Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there.  And yet death is the destination we all share.   No one has ever made it out alive.   And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.  It is Life’s change agent.  It clears out the old to make way for the new.  Right now the new are my sons and the youth of the world, but someday not too long from now, they will gradually become the old and be cleared away also.  Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Our time is limited, so we can’t  waste it living someone else’s life.  We can’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  We can’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out our own inner voices.  And most important of all, we must have the courage to follow our hearts and intuition.  They somehow already know what we truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.

So my days of being a headless vector are over!  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!  Later, Rick

PS.  I need your help!!  What can I do to make my blog better and what more can I do to advertise it?  I will cherish  your comments and/or advice.  Let me know.  Thanks for sharing some of your valuable time with me!  Rick