Our last guests left on March 22nd and we looked at each other and let out a big sigh; now what? For years, we talked about what our dream retirement life looked like and we don’t claim to have all the answers, but some fellow Gen-X bloggers provided some advice worth a quick share.
A happy retirement/life isn’t based on money or luck but likely involves these essentials:
- Protect your health – from simply walking to advanced strength training – keep moving.
- Stay curious – learn something new, take classes, travel.
- Create purpose – do something meaningful, give back, volunteer, etc.
- Build community – keep your connections and make new ones.
- Practice gratitude – never take your life for granted.
- Be optimistic – mindset is everything. Whatever you believe, will be.
It is not just about stopping work. It is about redesigning your life.
We are slowly doing many of these things already – we are definitely walking and moving so much more. We joined a gym (grand opening this week) and I have been lucky enough to continue Fluid Running in my own backyard pool – I am beyond grateful for this right now! We are slowly working on learning more Spanish, taking mosaic classes, helping local people, meeting new people and having regular conversations about gratitude and mindset. Our little town is hosting the First Caribbean Beer Festival in a couple of weeks and we have our tickets!
As part of our plan to explore Mexico, we have scheduled some local travel in the state we are living in (Quintana Roo). We already explored Valladolid, we are scheduled to spend 5 nights in Bacalar in May, one overnight excursion to Isla Mujeres including a daytrip to Isla Contoy in April, 3 nights on Isla Holbox with Britny in July where we have booked 2 tours; Bioluminescence & Stargazing via Kayak, then swimming with the world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark (both bucket list items). We were very specific with timing on this trip as the whales are found in these Caribbean waters for only a couple months each year and the bioluminescence is best seen with the smallest moon. A cruise in October to Grand Cayman, Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao is booked as well as our room reserved for Danny’s nephew’s Cancun wedding in February! The next big planned trip is early February to Mexico City with a daytrip to one of the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries (another bucket list item)!
These trips are the big things that provide the excitement but the planning for them along with daily life, including shopping, cooking and cleaning don’t stop – it just slowly fills the days. We take the time to enjoy the down time. Sometimes picking up a book, catching a new TV series, taking a nap or just watching the day go by. Journey’s favorite is a walk to the ice cream shop for a pup-cup. The nature here is incredible to observe. The weather has been exceptionally perfect. 95% of the time, it is sunny and warm, not too hot, not too humid, a small rain shower here and there. We don’t dare believe it will remain perfect like this but we are definitely enjoying it while it is.
Drawbacks are few and far between but the sargassum season began early again this year and makes part of the beach less than ideal, we have had 2 power outages, one of which lasted almost 12 hours, I have scratched the van (twice), and Journey discovered our first scorpion (who met a violent demise by a fly swatter). Thankfully, he seemed to understand it was something to growl at, rather than physically investigate…such a good boy! He chases geckos in the garden but has yet to catch one. We love spotting them and watching them, along with all the gorgeous birds native to this area – yes, I retired and became excited about birds – who knew?