You know what I’ve come to recognize is the truest goal of my entire working life? My truest goal is to retire and take it easier. Isn’t that strange? I work to retire. Why not just retire?

Seriously, why don’t we just retire? It is like standing one foot away from the door of the retirement room that you wish to enter. Instead of taking the one step, we decide to turn the other direction and circumnavigate the entire globe working ourselves to the bone to come back to the same door.

And then I wonder why do I so desperately want to retire? When I say I want to retire, I’m not saying that I want to stop doing everything. I’m not saying that I want to do nothing. I’m not saying that to retire means I find a bed, pull up the covers, and shut my eyes for the rest of my remaining days.

So, what am I saying when I say that I want to retire?

I think what I’m really trying to say is that I want to quit working the way that I’m working. I want to quit working so hard in a vain attempt to possibly secure a phase of life where I won’t have to work so hard.

But, if this is really the case, then why not just quit working so hard now? Why not change the way that I’m working this morning? Why not change the way that I’m working right this minute? Why not change the definition of retirement and get started right this instant?

Why not? I think I just might. Off to Costa Rica. Off to chase down the meaning of the parable about “The Costa Rican Fisherman and The Banker”

Retirement starts now.