What Do I Do Now

Retirement is the wrong word for living.

Photo by Glen Hodson on Unsplash

What do I do now?  Perhaps this is becoming the most asked question in the U.S. as more and more people finish the working and parenting stage of life and remain in great health with an assured income and many productive years ahead. 

This should be a question that needs to be directly and seriously considered.  The risk is drift and missed opportunities. 

It is also a question that has been answered many times before, but not to the degree it is being asked today.  In the past a few were born with secure wealth.  They were faced with this question from an early age.  Many of them discovered life experiences that were fulfilling. 

And, yes, some wasted their lives in relatively repetitive and mindless pleasure seeking, but others became amateur scientists, explorers, artists or patrons of the arts.  They expanded the range of their interests, developed curiosity about the world and became open to new experiences. 

There were others who deliberately chose to stop their “work” life and did not “retire,” but finally were able to live as they desired and, as I’m sure they believed, as life was meant to be lived.   

I think particularly of Ben Franklin, who deliberately ended his “work” life as a printer once he had become financially secure (he was quite a remarkable entrepreneur) and turned his attention to science and government.  He contributed to his community in many ways as a citizen, provided assistance to friends, read about and participated in the major scientific discoveries of his day. 

Today, this is an option for a great many of us.  Some perhaps have prepared for such a day.  Others obviously have not.  This matters less than you might think.  Fortunately, the world offers a rich “banquet” of possibilities, beyond the endless pursuit of that most elusive of goals: sensual pleasure.

I am only able in this short blog to hint at the major possibilities, as I see them.  First, the Arts.  One can develop one’s taste in all manner of ways and participate as an active artist or seek the experience of great beauty and intense feeling.  David Brooks in a recent column in the NYT wrote with great insight about this path of discovery.  (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/opinion/art-culture-politics.html).

Then I suggest the unending pleasure of exploring the world, whether through travel, reading or wandering.  We are naturally curious about things.  This isn’t a gift that some have.  It is coded in our DNA.  Go look.  Go ask.  Go see.  Solve puzzles and explore mysteries.  Open yourself to the world and never look back.  Life is now an adventure.  Avoid shutting down.  Avoid living less.  Take children with you.  Find the hidden places.  Debate the Great Questions.  And find ways to become part of the lives of others. Share and contribute to their journeys.

Finally, play a role in the greatest challenge of our time, perhaps of all time—think about, work toward, join with others in exploring, how we build a fairer, safer and kinder society to replace this old jalopy of present civilization.  It has been a jerry-rigged construction that got us here, if barely, but need not carry us much further. 

Actually, it may not be able to carry us any further at all.

As always I welcome comments.

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