the 20-year cycle of life

There is research to suggest that settling into retirement takes about 20 years (including the planning). Well, actually it only takes about a year to get reoriented once you retire. I have heard stories about it taking from 3 to 6 months. I think it depends on how many years of stored up "to do's" you have on your list. You know, that stuff you always meant to get around to and never did; i.e., visiting the grandkids, cleaning out the attic, checking out the local dance club, etc. What all that means is we need breaks. It takes time to get into a life routine: finding a job, getting comfortable with the routine and expectations, enjoying your new found economic freedom and having fun with it. Eventually the routine gets boring and then constricting. And it's time for a break.

Since we only live about 100 years that means a life break. According to this same research after about a year retirees begin finding a second life. Some secondary interest that they kept shoving into the background comes to the front. After a year (or 3-6 months) of playing a retiree can look at that avocation in a new light with renewed energy and start life all over again. Most entrepreneurs go through a similar cycle of creating an enterprise, watching it succeed, selling it, resting, and then starting over again with something entirely different. If we lived forever we might find ourselves making new lives about every 10-20 years, depending on interest level and circumstances.

Other life roles play out in 20 years, for example: most marriages (which last for 15-20 years), child rearing, many mortgages, acting and sports careers. So, no need to feel that your first job has to be the one that you will have forever. Let's say you're 24 and you get a job and keep it (or stay in the same industry) for 20 years. You'll be 44 at the end of that. And while that may seem old (to a 24-year-old) it's actually quite young when you consider that you may be around for another 40 years or so. And, yes, there is life after 50.

I'm ready for my big break and new lifestyle (which I may have mentioned once or twice). In fact, I've already got an album cover and song titles.

Fatuous Fat Mule cover art

New release featuring: I'm Not From Around Here and I Intend to Stay That Way, It Most Certainly is All About Me, and Going Where the Weather Suits My Clothes. On sale NOW! Void where prohibited.

Song of the Day: "Timid Frieda (Les Timides)" by M. Shuman, E. Blau, J. Brel; from the album Jaques Brel is Alive and Living in Paris.