maybe the Question should be ….

written by

Jeannette Zink

There are re-occurring questions that seem to enter the conversation I may be having these days. They go something along the lines … Congratulations on your retirement. What are your plans now that you have retired? Are you staying in the area? I bet you are going to do some traveling and see the world, right? Tackle that bucket list? So happy for you … best wishes.

I have always been an overachiever. So, I have at the ready my prepared responses to these inquiring questions. Yes, indeed, I do have plans …. After all, I did not retire on a whim – I thought it all out; did research; measured each pro and con; met with retirement counselors; talked with financial-like folks; and, even visited retirement communities; plus, made an inventory of my hobbies and continuing education options. Ask me your typical question when it comes to the chit-chat of retirement, and I will provide the answers to your well-meaning questions.

But, maybe these are not the questions to be asked … maybe the more important question to ask is the one that is tucked secretly away inside the stairwell of our soulful heart. The one that gives me more of a challenge and that higher degree of fortitude to climb one more level of exploration. That question being, “What do you want to reclaim from your youth … now that you are retired?”

To answer this question is not hard for me, it is the courage to implement the answer that seems daunting to this 69-year-old retiree. You see, somewhere along the way, I lost the courage to be brave … to take those bold steps that in my youth were scary, but I did them anyway. Here are just a few of (at least for me) my youthful high-flying trapeze acts:

In my late twenties, I left all familiar safety nets of family, friends and homeland to move from my birth state of Oklahoma to the foreign land of New Mexico.

While living in my adopted landscape of New Mexico, I ventured across the bridge of New Mexico to Old Mexico – Juarez (on more than one occasion) ... dancing the night away with the love of my life to the disco crystal ball tunes of Donna Summers.

Traveled solo to Europe on a 17-day TWA tour.

Career goals led to moves from Oklahoma to New Mexico to Dallas to Washington, DC to Houston to Midwest USA back to Dallas and then finally back to Washington, DC … traveling solo on all these career-ladder junkets.

Bought 4 homes and sold 3 … all by myself.

Traveled all over the country … sometimes driving solo late at night in all kinds of weather conditions and interesting terrain.

Like I say … these were courageous acts for me and ones that would surely give me pause today. Yes, I was once BRAVE and took calculated risks that now warm my heart as memories protected by yesteryear’s joie de vivre. I want to rediscover my bravery … the courage to dare age and logic when the rational mind whispers the what-ifs of potential life road-bump disasters.

I have purchased all kinds of security blankets -- insurance policies, long-term health care, AAA for roadside assistance, mobile phone and charger, check for water pipe links each morning and evening, and have saved for the inevitable rainy days. So, what is stopping me from reclaiming my once cherished and youthful BRAVERY?

I tell you, my friends, life experiences can play havoc on the road to tomorrow’s age-proof brave next steps. I want to be brave and do those things on my bucket list; I want to toss caution over the shoulder of risky business and do it anyway; and I want to be responsibly irresponsible (within limits). I want to find my brave joie de vivre, again!

So, there we are … the question for me is not what I will do in my retirement … but, will I find the BRAVERY to do all the things that I would love to do … as I once did in my youth?

Does Amazon sell safety nets for joie de vivre?

Stay tuned …