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You don’t know anything to write about?
Retirement! It seems like everything has been said and all the topics covered. What more can there be? It had me stumped. Then I saw the problem. I understood what needs to be discussed. It is really very simple but it is also the key to success. The question I need to ask is this: What is it that I don’t know yet which will change my life?
It has been a frustrating several days. I have been bumbling around hoping for inspiration; my mind flitting from one topic to another without anything seeming right. I have straightened my desktop, filed the paid bills and searched the web for ideas. Nothing turned up. My mind was still blank.
It is like that sometimes when I try to force something. The harder I push, the blanker my mind gets. I pulled back trying to trick myself. I opened a blank document and stared. Then I tried writing a sentence because sometimes just starting with meaningless words opens the flow of thoughts. It didn’t work. I was still stuck.
I began to panic. Maybe I had drained all my thoughts and ideas. Maybe there was just nothing more to say. Ralph Carlson Blog was dead because Ralph Carlson was out of thoughts. As I settled into that gloomy path, I fought. I didn’t want it to be true but on the other hand, I had to run out of thoughts sooner or later. If it is all over, then maybe I should just relax, face the truth and admit that I have nothing more to say. Part of me, the part that thinks negative, was willing to accept that assertion. I listen to the negative too often and it often just runs over my positive side before I even notice. But part of me was not so willing. Over in the corner, my positive side was objecting softly. I could hardly hear it saying, “Wait a minute. Let’s think about this a bit.” But I listened.
I took a break.
I picked up a book I am reading. I don’t think it matters which book – just that it wasn’t fiction. It was about inspiring people coping with adversity. Then somewhere mixed up between Winston Churchill and the Wright Brothers, I saw the light. It isn’t what I know that is important. What is going to change my life; what has changed my life in the past; what is the only thing that makes one person more successful than another is very simple. It is something that I don’t know but need to learn.
I’m on a mission here at RCB. It is a very personal mission. I want to make my retired years outrageous. I don’t want ordinary. I don’t want average. I don’t even want good. I want my retirement years to be mind-blowing. I start with a pretty ordinary guy living a pretty ordinary life. It is a big challenge and I confess that I don’t know how to do it now. My average mind doesn’t even know what my outrageous retirement lifestyle can be. I am handicapped just like the Judge who is reported to have said that he doesn’t know how to define pornography but he recognizes it when he sees it. My outrageous retirement lifestyle is like the Michelangelo’s David trapped inside a block of marble. I am no artist like Michelangelo or even a trained jurist. I’m just an average Joe who wants to be a lifestyle master.
It seems hopeless but of course that’s the lie that ordinary always tells people who want more. If it were hopeless, then man would never fly and our museums would be filled with blocks of marble. There are always the fools that think about what is possible instead of seeking the impossible. They remain fools to ordinary people until history proves them to be inspired – just like the Wright brothers.
I need to learn things that I don’t know now about living life full out. Retirement is the last chance I have after a pretty ordinary career. There are masters out there living what I think are outrageous retirements. Others are more like me; wanting a lifestyle they don’t know how to define and lacking some of what they need to know to make it happen. I am looking for companions on my quest. I would like to have more eyes scanning the horizon for knowledge and vision about making retirement years outrageous. I would love to know your thoughts about my struggle. Are you engaged in a similar one? I would love to hear about resources and knowledge that help you chart your retirement. And if you have an outrageous retirement story, I would love to hear it.
