The Never Retire Lifestyle — Part 2

This article, The Never Retire Lifestyle — Part 2, is a follow up on my previous post, Part 1. In this article, we will further discuss the reasons for employing a ‘never retire’ mindset and lifestyle.

It is our mindset that is extremely important since it is this that will determine our actions and results. This is all about bringing forth our potential on a consistent basis by living life fully engaged enthusiastically. This is something that doesn’t have a time limit.

Welcoming Change and Uncertainty

On the surface, this may not sound like an appealing endeavor. It is much easier and comforting to remain within our safe circle of the familiar. Stepping beyond our comfort or “prison zone” does take some getting used to, but provides the rewards of a life filled with adventure and accomplishment.

In order to develop this type of mindset, it is necessary to learn and increase our understanding that this is actually possible to do, and it is very much well worth the effort. Were it that easy we would already be doing it. We all enjoy doing things that are easy and fun.

In order to make the transition from resisting change and uncertainty to willingly accepting it, it is best to take a few small steps to get us started in the right direction, break our inertia, and create some momentum. The “repetition” of small steps in our desired direction is the key.

Changing a Few Habits

Now in order to welcome change and move out of our so-called area of comfort, it is quite necessary to change a few of our habits. We all have many habits formed over the years, some of which are helpful to our lifestyle, while others inhibit us in obtaining many of our goals and desires.

The crazy thing about these habits is that many were formed as a result of what other people believed and taught us. They weren’t even our own ideas. But when we were young, we were very impressionable, and a lot of this stuff did keep up safe at the time, but much of it is not necessary now, and some of it was never necessary.

This stuff got implanted in us as a combination of thoughts we picked up from various sources (family, friends, school, radio, television, media, government, etc.), but what produced its major effect and staying power is the emotional impact that got tied in with those ideas and thoughts. That’s what made an impression on us and seeped down into our subconscious minds.

We then began to ‘believe’ that this is just the way things are. Whether they were beliefs about ourselves, other people, or how the world works in general, we bought into them. When they were accurate, our subconscious mind developed some good habits and routines for us, but when inaccurate we developed many undesirable ways to think and act.

Just being aware of this stuff is a step in the right direction. We are now able to make some conscious choices, where before all our choices were made on a subconscious level several seconds before we ‘thought’ that we made that decision. The mind is an amazing thing indeed. If you want to go down this rabbit hole a bit here’s an article on whether we really choose consciously or not in Neuroscience News.

But the funny thing is even with all our past conditioning, we do have the choice to break free. It may not be easy, but it is possible. We must get rid of our old ways of thinking and doing things so new ways can be set up. If this wasn’t hard to do, change that is, it would not be so valuable.

“In all disorder, there is a secret order.”

— Carl Jung —

Breaking Free

The ‘Never Retire’ lifestyle is about breaking free and living full out. It isn’t about working or not working. That falls into place naturally once we have fulfilled our basic needs of living on purpose from our core values. Initially, it may take some time to really discover what we most want and desire, and what our core values really are.

They will be different for each of us. Some of us value recognition, creative expression, life balance, healthy lifestyle, liberty, autonomy, integrity, compassion, unconditional love, compassion, etc. One or two of these will be predominant for each of us, but once recognized and expanded upon, the other values fall into place quite naturally and automatically.

What this does is to provide clarity of who we really are, and what we most desire. Feelings and intuitive urges that have been suppressed for years now come to the forefront to be recognized and expressed. This is true freedom and an authentic way of living and being.

Potential Unleashed

As I mentioned in my previous article, Part 1, we get to the point of ever-expanding our potential in all areas of our lives. We realize that what’s happening ‘out there’ was never the problem whether it is money, relationships, or health. It’s how we feel about things and what we focus upon that keep all the stuff locked into place.

The only way to truly make this happen and break free is to make this whole process fun, or we won’t do it long enough for the new habits to kick in. That’s why I spent some time talking about embracing and welcoming uncertainty and change. We need to learn to love it. Not just accept it and go through the motions with the ‘hope’ that things work out.

Instead, we must jump into the deep end and embrace the unknown. Again, we can do this with a series of small steps to get the momentum flowing to the extent that we will not want to turn back. It’s the first few weeks that are the major challenge. Not because it is not something we can’t do, but there will be much resistance and the urge will be to rationalize all this away and creep back to our safety and so-called comfort.

Things will get a bit messy for a time as we create new habits around the changes we desire to make. We will often feel like quitting. We are tearing down old structures of thought and belief so that we can create new ones. This is a confusing time with much irritation and frustration. But during this stressful period, we are actually growing in significant ways and creating a whole new framework of living from our authentic self.

Our imagination can help us out here quite a bit. Just a few moments each morning visualizing our ideal life packed with emotion will maintain the taste of what it is we truly desire in our minds and hearts. By keeping this in the forefront, we continue to keep emotionally involved enough until our new routine takes hold. At that point, we have broken free enough to stay in the game and deal with whatever challenges, problems, and roadblocks we need to face.

Any apparent brick wall is merely constructed of paper mache, and we quickly realize this when we stay engaged long enough to breakthrough. It is only our thoughts that keep us trapped in cement make things appear harder than they really are.

Never Retiring is a Good Idea

When we understand that the never retire lifestyle is really about playing full out no matter our age, it becomes more of a challenge than anything else. Discovering what means the most to us can not only make life more enjoyable, but it provides us with a wealth of opportunity and numerous ways to contribute to the well-being of others.

Once this mind shift is made, there is no going back. Fun and relaxation are just part of a fully engaged life. Money is merely a way of keeping score in some of our endeavors.

I encourage everyone to spend some time to ‘pause and reflect’ a bit and see what lights your fire. We each have so much potential that is imprisoned by the way we ‘think things are’. Well, I know we owe it to ourselves to discover the truth about ourselves. We just may be pleasantly surprised by what we find. So here’s to ‘never retiring’.

All the best on your Journey of Self Discovery!

Joseph

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