I retired myself way before 50 years old (sort off) …
Let me explain…
This morning, my wife and I dropped our kid to school and went straight to buy some bagel.
The bagels were huge; I ordered everything bagel and then eggs and cheese. My wife ordered poppy seed bagel and then eggs and cheese.
I live in Gainesville, Florida. The bagel that we bought from Luke’s Bagel is said to be the best New York bagel here.
Last night, I checked Luke’s bagel website, and it says that they “copied” the water content of New York to make their bagel (ready for this?), Taste like New York Bagel.
Now, that’s one good marketing there. I see a lot of people line up every morning to have their bagels.
But I’m not here to talk about marketing (but I will in my next installment and talk about marketing and Luke’s bagel).
Meanwhile, the question is, why are we having bagel in downtown Gainesville during the time when me and my wife should be at work?
Let me explain…
We retire ourselves…
A year ago, I was reading a book. The author was talking ‘why can’t we borrow time from our retirement year?’
His idea, especially for artists, is to go on vacation about retiring for two years to recharge. Then after two years of vacation mode and retirement mode, you go back to work again.
This way, the author added, is that you are recharge and will be more productive. I think the author also cited studies that people who recharge longer are more productive in the long run.
My wife and I have been talking about having coffee in downtown Gainesville for the sake of just having coffee. So, for the past week, we decided to have bagel and coffee in downtown Gainesville, just to watch people and relax.
So far, so good.
Siesta in the afternoon…
After the long talk over bagels and chocolate milk, we go home, we open our laptop and do the thing we need to do (I do internet marketing).
We will have lunch, just like any other retiree. Then the best part is the siesta or the nap during the afternoon hours.
Let me explain why we take an afternoon nap.
In the popular book ‘Why we Sleep’, researchers found that siesta should be a part of a human being’s lifestyle. Why? Because afternoon are the times when body slows down and needs a recharge.
Studies shows that people in Spain, who practiced siesta for decades, have lesser heart related problems such as heart attack, elevated blood pressure and everything.
Some parts of Spain who practiced siestas totally removed the healthy practice, but knowing the benefits of healthy afternoon naps, my wife and I decided to put it back to our lives.
I mean, we are retired after all.
How did we retire? (Sort off retire) …
In the beginning of this year 2023, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple, to name a few tech giants, announced that they will lay off hundres of people from their work force.
My wife and I are scientists, and not engineers. We thought we will not be affected by the massive layoffs.
But in January, my wife was handed her pink slip. She was working for Pfizer. At first, she was shocked, but later, we accepted what happened.
Then in March, I got a notice that our laboratory was closing (I’m a forensic chemist btw).
We were devastated. But what can we do? We revamped our resume and looked for jobs.
Since Pfizer gave us a very good severance package, we have a very good buffer to last long.
So we decided to retire for the next month of so:
Go to the beach, eat breakfast in coffee shops and just stay there until noon, siesta, read a book, open our laptop, garden.
I mean the list goes on. If you are reading this, comment below what we can add to our activities.
I know we can find a job soon. We will be working hard again, but for the meantime, enjoy.
Losing our jobs could be just a winter of our life. Winter will soon pass.
But when winter comes, it’s either we freeze of ski.
We choose to ski.
