Mary Panttaja

As we get to a certain age in America, thoughts move towards the concept of retirement. This is traditionally a movement towards less: mostly less work and less responsibility. But the second half of life isn’t primarily about stopping anything, it is now about transforming life to meet a new set of criteria. And the change in critieria, what we need and want from life, can be the most liberating concept of all.

My husband and I have arrived, with much pluck and luck, at a new frontier, likened only to a few moments when we, as young college singles, had every choice in front of us and few, if any, determined responsibilities. We then proceeded to choose and commit and engage in projects that seem to take a lifetime—all worthwhile, but in many ways determining who we were and what we needed to be doing.

But now, the children are moved on to their own lives, our one remaining parent is well and thriving, our business associates and former employees are otherwise occupied, we have our health and our capacity to work, engage, and explore. So now we have reached one of those key moments when all the choices are again on the table. No one needs us to be someone particular. Nothing requires us to be anywhere specific. No activities—except those we choose—demand our attention.

Who are we when no one needs us to be any particular thing? What are you free to be? Free to do? It seems that there is a entire world of choices that can be chosen, an entire palette of life styles that can be fashioned.

One of the keys to a whole realm of freedom is the realization that it doesn’t take much to live on the planet if one is a healthy, functioning adult with few responsibilities. Then, every responsibility you take on is either a choice or a bad habit. Sifting the bad habits from real choices is the path to freedom. Identifying what is truly meaningful beyond what is merely customary is the task. We have learned to think that freedom comes from permanent financial security, by which we used to mean a lot of money in a money market account. But nothing is certain and real financial security comes from being able to create just enough income to live the lightest (least costly) life you can imagine enjoying. So reducing what you need, reduces the number of constraints or responsibilities you have have to support, creating more freedom to do whatever it is you want.

Who do you want to be today? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? If you let go of your constraints, untether yourself in the arising updraft of your life, what happens next?

Well, that’s the experiment we are embarked on by hook or by crook. And we intend to be writing about our experiences, how we got here, what we are discovering, and what’s interesting.

It is truly an exercise in catching the updraft.

PS. Still looking for the catchy title, theme, category for these posts. I wanted to use American Sanyasi denoting that it is the time of life beyond the requirements of a householder enabling one to walk away from some of our tethers—but that name is in use already and so I’m still searching.