Why Wait?!

So the other day I was watching a documentary on Stan Lee and someone had asked him why he wasn't retiring and enjoying himself. He answered "Why retire, I'm doing what I've always dreamed of doing." Which made me think, do people wait till they are retired to do what they've always wanted to do?

Though I can understand it in a way because being a responsible adult forces you to make sacrifices for yourself, your spouse, your kids, etc. But to wait for 40-50+ years to do what you've always dreamed to do? That is absurd to me. I mean what if when you retire your health in such poor condition that you find yourself unable to do whatever it was you dreamed of doing? Nothing lasts forever, your health being one of those things and while I know and understand you have a duty to your family, you also have a duty to yourself. So few of us get to actually work an occupation that we love to do so why not indulge in something that you like to do on the side. I took up the violin eight months ago because I've always wanted to learn. If its this hard to learn now I can only imagine how hard it would be to learn at age 60 something. Its good to have a passion and to share that passion and your love for that passion with others. It inspires people to do the same with their own passions whether that be art, writing, film making, the list goes on. I'm learning violin now and once I learn how to play it to the best of my ability I'll continue to do so. Then I will continue onto something else I've always wanted to do.

Life is hard, you have to work, you have to make ends meet. But if you let it bury you you'll find very little joy in it. I've gotten to the point at a job were every day I was just so apathetic and embittered. And because of that I was turning into someone I didn't recognize. Do yourself a favor and don't do that to yourself. When this happened to me I quickly started looking for another job and the job I found though still not what I love to do, they were still flexible enough for me to take time off for family gatherings. I worked with people that understood there was a world outside of work and that was all I could ask for. No job is worth being that unhappy. Never quit your job without having another one lined up because jobs are to rare to come by now a days to do that. So don't go reading this and think its okay to tell your boss to shove it tomorrow. On my other blog I once compared leaving a job you absolutely hated to go to one that at the time is exactly what you wanted/needed was like taking a really good poop. Your full of stress and anxiety a now that you no longer have to go to that every day you feel a giant weight/pressure leave.

So don't wait till retirement. Be as happy and fulfilled as you possibly can. Because no matter how hard things get you'll always have a part of you that you can escape to.