The secret of happiness. Resting from labor.

Saturday, March 15, 2025

One of the definitions of retirement is “cease to work.” The cessation of travailing, laboring, reaching, trying, and being effortful will change you. I loved academic music, but at a music conference of colleagues, complaints abound! No-one discussed their love of music, merely their hatred of the grueling hours, the back-biting politics, and the drudgery of dealing with “lazy students.”

Work is for the birds, and my friend Jim was my inspiration. In his retired life, he does what’s needed around the house, in the yard, and in the community. He does as little or as much as what comes his way.

At 48, I retired despite my finances. To me, retirement means freedom – so I retired from the notion of tomorrow. I had enough supply for today, and that, I realized, was all that was needed. Others define retirement as doom, a bit like dying. You either look forward to it, or you are scared to death of it. Are you scared to death of death? That’s a good place to be because it insinuates eternity.

You can retire from the fear of “unstructured time,” which is a great way of describing death. You can rest from your labors. You can rest in peace, doing only what comes up in the moment – even if death finds you this day. It will find you ready and willing because at least part of you has already died to the fear of dying.

Wake up and wonder – what will come? If nothing, rest. Watch the trees grow, not the bank account dwindle. I retired despite my conditions. I’ve retired from laboring about the so-called future, and I have found the secret to happiness, or more truthfully, it has found me. Thank God it came before I died laboring myself to death.