Boomer's Lament
Retirement Today
I am at the crossroads of where family guy-bread winner-giver meets me, me, me. As I begin to see the future no longer as an infinite but rather a finite, there is a new sense growing within to make the most of this finite future by pursuing a far more self-indulgent course. While not really comfortable with this new awareness, I try to convince myself it's a good thing.
Being selfish or at least putting myself first has not been my mantra since leaving teenager-hood. While one normally wouldn't argue that one's time on the planet is limited and even though we all like to say "live for today", the truth is that, at least for me, its hard to really believe that I am going anywhere otherworldly. In fact I may decide not to go. Why should I? If I choose the infinite future, I won't need to complete a bucket-list and I won't feel compelled to take advantage of every moment in fear of there being no more to come.
On the other hand, if we live life as if there is no tomorrow, will our life not be more fulfilled? To me, this is the boomer's lament. As the baby-boomer generation nears seniority we all must decide how to spend the remainder of our time. Admittedly, we probably can't choose to go or not, but we do have some choice in how we get to that point.
If 50 is the new 40 and 65 is the new 50 etc. etc., there is a lot of stuff we boomers can do. Most of us have likely lived an adventure or two and shared more than one story which we wouldn't want passed down. These escapades and lifestyles have made boomers the youngest people ever to become seniors. Unfortunately, more lamenting... we lived longer, played harder, and "just did it" until we ran out of money, not strength. Now we are of the age when we can be me,me,me again but have neither the money nor the will to take advantage of it.
Obviously there are some who have the will, strength, and bank account to support a super-duper "retirement", but for the rest of us, we must decide how to live long and prosper without the benefit of knowing anyone who has gone there before.
To sum it all up, do we continue a life of family and giving or live for ourselves like there is no tomorrow or try to find some compromise which doesn't satisfy either desire? AND how do we keep going without any means or do we spend our time working to earn money to keep working to earn money until our time comes. Boomer's lament.
