This article is all about some fun reminiscing and a little daydreaming. You get to think about your younger days, from when you were a little kid until you were a young adult. You know the time I mean: before the world made you conform to reality and beat you up a little. Doing so can give you hints as to what will excite you in retirement. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Did you want to be a Train Engineer, a Race Car Driver, Ballerina, or an Astronaut?
Tell the truth. At some point you wanted to be one of the above! Let’s use them as examples and see where they might lead to interests in retirement.
Train Engineer
Can you:
- Take short or long train trips
- Build a model train layout
- Travel around taking pictures of trains and train stations
- Collect and/or read books on trains
- Start a train related website or small business.
Race Car Driver
Can you:
- Go to races
- Race model or RC Control cars
- Visit famous race tracks
- Restore a hot but old classic car
- Start a race car related web site or small business
Ballerina
Can you:
- Attend Ballets
- Organize trips for others or seniors to attend ballets
- Volunteer and assist a young people’s ballet class
- Collect ballet slippers
- Start a web business selling young people’s slippers and outfits
Astronaut
Can you:
- Collect space exploration pictures
- Build model spacecraft and rockets
- Watch a real rocket launch
- Collect books on space exploration
- Build a website showing what prior and current astronauts are doing now
My Story – Astronomer, Park Ranger, Scientist, Storekeeper
OK, so its time to come clean on some of my young career plans. At different points I wanted to be:
- An Astronomer
- A Park Ranger
- A Scientist
- A Storekeeper
So what could I do in retirement or semi retirement?
Astronomer
- Get into amateur astronomy (great way to make new friends,) maybe get a new telescope
- Collect space pictures
- Start an Astronomy library
- Visit dark sky locations around the country
Park Ranger
- Volunteer in a state or national park
- Visit every national park
- Visit every state park in my state.
- Build a very detailed guide of nearby parks and post it on the web.
A Scientist
- Set up an amateur laboratory
- Buy a microscope and learn how to use it
- Collect science books
- Pick a science subject I like and build a very detailed web site
- Find a way to volunteer and introduce young people to science
Storekeeper
- Open a small web store specializing in something that interests me
- Open a retail business
- Make part time income working in a store
It’s time to grow up – what dreams can you fulfill?
Now it is your turn. Hopefully you get the idea from the examples above. Start by doing a little of that reminiscing and daydreaming. List a few of your early career ideas. Then, instead of just a few activities try to list 10 or more for each. Hopefully from that list you will come up with some that both excite you and are relatively feasible. As you gain experience with the easier ones you’ll gain confidence to try the more adventurous!
Until next time…
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