DAILY PROMPT RESPONSE

Funny question. I’m already retired — so that ship has sailed, caught fire, and drifted into the fog. I didn’t exactly plan it this way. I retired earlier than I intended, not because I hit a financial milestone or had a burning desire to live in sweatpants, but because life shoved me out the door and said, “Good luck.”

At first? I thought I was going to lose my damn mind. Retirement wasn’t the champagne-and-passport fantasy my friends and I used to ramble about. It was me standing in my kitchen at 10AM, reorganizing the fridge magnets like they were sacred runes. I was out here inventing errands and scheduling things like “check mail” and “organize junk drawer,” just to feel useful.

We live in a world obsessed with doing. If your calendar isn’t jam-packed with Zoom calls, workout classes, and color-coded nonsense, people assume you’re wasting your life. Productivity has become a personality trait. Rest? That’s considered weakness.

I bought into it for a while. I kept trying to prove I was still “useful.” But eventually, something in me gave up — in the best way.

I stopped asking, “What should I be doing?” and started asking, “Do I want to?” And just like that, life got simpler.

Now? I nap when I’m tired. I read without guilt. I write, wander, daydream, and sit in silence without apology. Retirement isn’t what I imagined — but it’s real, and it’s mine. Turns out, that ship I thought was burning? Just needed to slow down and enjoy the view.

Sometimes I wonder if I could’ve adopted this mindset earlier. Maybe I didn’t need retirement to learn how to rest. But hey — better late than stuck in a never-ending to-do list.

If I could send a note back in time, it’d read:

You’re not lazy. You’re just finally done with the bullshit.