The way things are going, I don’t really know whether people of my age will ever really be able to properly retire in the future, but the subject of retirement is something that I’ve been thinking about recently. In part, because my current job has me talking to a lot of retired people.
One thing that I hear a lot is “I’m retired, so I never go out” which sounds quite sad to me. Was their job really the only thing that got them out of the house? I appreciate that illness and disability must make a lot of people housebound (which is also pretty sad) but I’d hope that, if I were in that situation and blessed with non-incapacitating health, I’d do things quite differently.
I think, once I’m old, it would be nice to travel around and have an extended visit with all of my old friends. By then, I imagine I’ll have friends scattered all over the world (and it’s a trend that’s already started) so it would be a good chance to see everybody again, catch up and bring life to a close with a nice bit of sentimental travel. Doing something new, while revisiting the past at the same time.
Of course, for all I know, money will be too tight and I’ll be stuck working a terrible job and never doing anything else. But the idea of getting to a point of life where I “never go out” is very depressing. Although, I suppose on the other hand, I’d always have my books… and my video games too! Things would never get too bad.
