Retirement (what else have I got to write about)

 

Texas Brisket mmmmm

My previous post addressed the financial aspect of retirement.  Now for the second major goal: fulfillment.  This is a much less defined piece of the retirement model.  One can use many of the models to determine how much money is required for retirement then you can simply look at your bank account to see if it measures up.  Fulfillment is more difficult to measure.  How do you even measure it.  If I get to the end of a day and have not gone crazy is that a good day?   Also since this is a less defined topic it will take me a couple of blogs to get through it all.

Rather than get too deeply into the psychology of this field.  Let me tell you what I have been up to and see if I can make some sense of it.

At first I took time to read.  To make this easier on the budget I got an online library card from the local library and was able to borrow books for free.  Free is good.  Looking at the history of borrowed books and without getting too detailed I have read crime novels and books on the climate crisis.  I read Sanjay Gupta's book on the covid pandemic.  I found Amy Klobuchar's book on antitrust difficult to read but did discover some interesting history on the subject.  I even jumped into Ayn Rand's Fountainhead.  I found the characters in Fountainhead compelling which made it a good read.  The author has been in the press lately and has been championed by people to the right of the political spectrum.  I did not get a strong sense of any political views reading Fountainhead.  I was probably not paying to close attention to the book.  As I said I was compelled by the characters and what they were doing and what they were about to do.  I may have to read more of her books.

One book I borrowed that I really enjoyed was "Think like a Horse".  This is a non fiction book written by Grant Golliher.  Grant is a Cowboy and uses his skills learned in working with horses to help people be better leaders.  I encourage anyone to read his book.

I also used my Kindle app as well and read a number of books on leadership as well as John M. Barry's book on the influenza outbreak of 1918.  I also went back and reread the Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell.  On vacation I took a few books that I purchased at the second hand book store.  It was enjoyable to sit on the beach and read an actual book.  I read three books from the Last Mountain man series.  It was fun reading about the hero "Smoke Jensen" and his exploits.

Read helps sharpen the mind.  To keep my body sharp I try to work out.  As I age this is definitely getting more difficult.  When I was doing ironman I had a race mindset. That was 10 to 15 years ago.  So now my motivation is to stay healthy.  I find it much more difficult to motivate myself to workout.  I go to the gym and ride my bike.  You can check out my youtube channel for biking videos (  My Youtube Channel ).  This is definitely something I need to work on.

As the picture at the top of my blog indicates I also like to grill and Barbeque.  Noting better than Texas Brisket.  As a final note I was asked about the picture on my previous blog.  It was a rear derailer from an old road bike I was rebuilding.  I had pulled the derailer from the rear wheel and was cleaning and rebuilding it.  I still ride the bike!