retirement phases and 2nd retirement

Now that I restarted my retirement, I can definitely attest to the feelings and phases. Hear me out.

When I first tried retirement, it ran for about 15 months. So what happened during these 15 months?

First, I told myself I will decompress and do whatever I want, while keeping a close watch on my finances. At the same time, I put small notes whenever ideas of what to use my time on spring up in my head.

Then I executed my plan,

The decompression part was important. I had been working for over 23 years since I graduated from university, not a long time but still a damn long time. I never stopped working during those years, in that, it was a continuous employment, across 4 different companies.

When you just started work as a fresh grad, you are super motivated. The world is so new to you, and you want to prove yourself eagerly. And you are fucking poor too (unless you have rich parents). So you are both motivated by self and also by money. This meant, at least for me, I worked very very hard and long hours. Giving up many things in life outside of work. This went on, for myself, for almost 20 years. Why?

Well, after you proved yourself, built up some good finances, other things come. For me, it was marriage and kids. These added to my load, my commits and my responsibilities. I need to ensure I not only feed myself, but also plan for my family future. So I continued to work damn hard and save up. Of course, I still feed a lot of $ into my cars, since I love driving. 

Then, Covid hit. Things slowed down. I was already WFH anyway, so that didn't change anything for me. But everyone else ended up at home too lol. Wife, kids. etc. And other colleagues who never WFH before. This really messed up a lot of things, but more importantly, it also changed my perspective. I took stock carefully of our finances, and realised, hmmm....we are actually ok now. We can afford to slow down and not keep grinding as if we will suffer should we stop. 

With this realisation, my mind changed. No, I didn't become lazy or what. But what I value changed. I value now, freedom, choices, peace and security. Being locked into a job that requires me to commit a lot of energy and time, and the detriment of my private well being, is not longer acceptable to me. So I started planning for slowing down and retirement. Things got to a kick start when lay offs started in the tech sector in 2023. I survived the round in 2023, but got laid off in the next round in 2024. Fortunately, I was financially prepared somewhat. I can move things around to make things work. 

So the decompression period of my retirement is important. It allowed me to enjoy the freedom after getting out of the corporate jail, so to speak. I could do whatever I want any day, I could just sleep whole day, I could jump into the pool and stay there for hours. I can binge watch Netflix. I can listen to music, I can cycle for hours, or take a hike anytime without worrying about having to come back to a shit ton of emails and work. 

Now, how long to decompress? I didn't set a timeline. Which I am glad for. I simply decompress and do whatever I wanted until I ran out of things to do lol. That's why I realised I completed my decompression. hahahaha. 

So, for my first retirement, it took about 6 months to completely decompress based on above criteria. But I got bored. My notes on what else to do was very poorly written and all over the place. So I effectively don't have a solid list of things I want to do, and instead played by ear, only planning for things on actual day or just a few days prior. It was pretty aimless. So I started to be more intent on recording down things I have in mind, with more details jotted down. That helped. 

Then around 13th month, an opportunity to join a new company happened and I jumped in, thinking I can just run with it for 1-2 years to take some good money off the table. Oh boy, how mistaken I was lol. My decompression did wonders for my health, both mental and physical. But it also make me now every intolerable to corporate nonsense, like meetings, politics and deadlines. 

And so, I left within a few short months. Make some pocket money lol.

So, now I am restarting retirement, my 2nd one lol

So you would think I can just hit the road and do my planned items? well, nope.

I still need to decompress again I realised. I didn't started it that way. I wanted to start learning coding and AI and do a side project immediately. But that didn't work. Each time I sit down to read a document, I either fall asleep or I start reading news and social media. My mind can't focus and I keep wondering around. Why? lack of decompression period! 

Yeah, even a short few months of corporate jail is enough to put me back into a rat race mode.

So, I am doing decompression again, this time, wiser. I am even more specific and intent in writing down notes on how I want to spend my retirement. But same as before, I am not setting a timeline to complete decompression, and will let it flow and end naturally (i.e. I got bored lol)

Then the real retirement life will begin, with intention use of time, both leisure and both projects. To keep my mind and body healthy and string, so I age gracefully and strongly. 

I am super grateful to have the chance to do this. Super.

I think things will work out fine. It won't be smooth sailing and problem free, that is unrealistic. But it will be a fun experience and something unique. 

so, allow me to continue to decompress....LOL