5 ms·

Yes, but. I am fortunate enough to be in this position. In my 50s, in good health, and I don't have to work if I don't want to. I've always dreamed of being in

Yes, but. I am fortunate enough to be in this position. In my 50s, in good health, and I don't have to work if I don't want to. I've always dreamed of being in this situation and now I am. So what am I doing with my time? - Still enjoying not having to get up and go to work, and not having to work for idiot managers. Sometimes I waste whole days going nothing (thanks, 2048). I worked in startups for 25 years, and have been mulling over my "pattern": I meet a charismatic founder, get seduced, work my ass off. That's a lot less attractive now. The getting seduced part depended, in part, on the golden carrot. (But only in part.) - Exercising a lot more. - Working on my pet projects, with a degree of urgency that varies over time. I don't need these projects to pay the bills, or to be loved and used. I get my jollies out of writing the software. - Consulting, but being very selective about the projects I pick. They have to be interesting, and hopefully related to my pet projects. I've had some success here. - Learning to play piano. (Would have been so much easier if I didn't stop when I was a child.) - Enjoying more time with my wife. - Getting back to teaching (software, of course). Here's the "problem": At my age, (and due in large part to my temperament), I'm still not thinking very far outside the box. I can afford to do lots of new things, but I'm having some trouble figuring out which ones to actually do. Why? - Software: I've always written software. I always will. I need to make time for other things. - Inertia: I tend to do what I know, and expand out from there gradually. I seem to be incapable of ravenously seeking out novelty. - Need ideas: After many years of working very hard, putting job and family first, those are the things I tend to think about. - Need to say yes more: Except for the teenager living at home, I can go someplace warm and windy and windsurf for a week, anytime I want to. Not sure why I don't. I'm starting to say yes to more impulsive things, but it definitely goes against the grain. - Frittering time away on small projects: I took on too many, so for a while, I had no time for anything else. I'm in a lull now, so I'm again contemplating how I want to spend my time.

vacri 13y ago
I suggest that you go travelling. It's fun anyway, but you will also see new people and places that might give you the 'a-ha!' to give you a new target to work towards. Find a way to travel without your teenager, methinks, because then you'll be focusing more on seeing the things you want to see, rather than a more generic please-the-whole-family itinerary. I spent several months crossing the US and there were only two destinations locked in - the arrival airport and the departure airport. I'd have a general idea of what I was doing the next day, but it wasn't unusual to decide in the morning to go in a different direction. It was fantastic freedom of movement, and I saw things I'd've never seen otherwise. I could travel on my whims. Travelling with others has pros and cons - more people means more to keep happy, but also more shared experiences and memories. But however you do it, keep the ability to make spontaneous changes.

vacri 13y ago

I suggest that you go travelling. It's fun anyway, but you will also see new people and places that might give you the 'a-ha!' to give you a new target to work towards. Find a way to travel without your teenager, methinks, because then you'll be focusing more on seeing the things you want to see, rather than a more generic please-the-whole-family itinerary. I spent several months crossing the US and there were only two destinations locked in - the arrival airport and the departure airport. I'd have a general idea of what I was doing the next day, but it wasn't unusual to decide in the morning to go in a different direction. It was fantastic freedom of movement, and I saw things I'd've never seen otherwise. I could travel on my whims. Travelling with others has pros and cons - more people means more to keep happy, but also more shared experiences and memories. But however you do it, keep the ability to make spontaneous changes.