The Beginning

I was kicked out of the corporate world when I reached my expiry-date and was not impressed, but, rules are rules and will not be broken by large organizations.
Of course, they tried pacifying me with a ~~tarnished~~ golden handshake and a monthly pension, but if someone back then told me how my retirement would be one day, I would have told them they were crazy!

This is my story in response to the question for the Silver Prompt and Dreemport Collab in April...

A big thank you to @dreemsteem & @samsmith1971 from Dreemport for giving us the opportunity to help get more eyes on our content.

Silver Prompt: Retiring! What are your thoughts?

My old friends here already know that I'm still very much part of the working world, but I will briefly tell my new friends what I do post-retirement, and will be taking a look at what my expectations were, and what actually happened.

The experience thus far has been quite a ride; busy, exciting, and scary, but also loads of fun!

Do you really think you could one day just explore the world at a whim, put your feet up, and take it easy?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but even though many of us have visions of traveling to the far corners of the world once we retire, as we will have loads of time on our hands, our now-reduced income will not allow that. The golden handshake will indeed become tarnished and eventually run out unless you have a never-ending kitty of smart investments not affected by a fragile world economy.

I had no intention of simply retiring...

as I love to be part of the working world, and still have the freedom, and the budget, to break away and travel, even though it's only been here in SA. I enjoy entertaining and spending time with family and friends, so often take them along on our breakaways.

We love our home, but with big overheads, we would have had to downscale and move into a smaller home, and we just weren't and still aren't ready for that upheaval, some seven years later.

So, six months prior to being kicked out, we turned our garden cottage into an Airbnb, which eventually became a registered business and we became busier than we ever imagined, and expanded to other online booking sites.
Hosting people from all walks of life and from all over the world, has been an amazing experience, but also full of challenges.
Do not be fooled and think once everything is set up that you just sit and wait for guests to arrive – it is a load of work, but so rewarding in more ways than one.
Marketing, getting calls at all hours of the day and night, dealing with last-minute cancellations, noisy and/or messy guests (thankfully rare), those who come for happy, or sad occasions, and sometimes pour their hearts out, returning guests who become like family; all these bring mixed emotions, so it really feels like one is on a roller-coaster ride at times!

Should we retire at all? Is it good to retire or what do you expect from life after retirement?

I simply cannot imagine living a life with too many hours in the day and not knowing what to do each morning I wake up.

My days don't have enough hours as I try and cram as much living into each day. Is that a bad thing?

Running the BnB involves many of my favourite activities – cooking, baking, gardening, home décor, chatting and meeting new people, learning about different cultures, and chatting again, with those who love chatting as much as I do.

Blogging here on Hive – I simply do not have enough hours to always interact with all my favourite people, some kindred spirits who have touched my heart.

Should I retire fully, I would have more time to spend here in this awesome place called Hive. My head's crammed with so many things that I could end up being glued to my PC forever!

What next?

So. what to do next brings many questions – should we retire fully, sell our home, and downscale?

Or should we consider going across the waters to live with our son, but, and it's a big but, our roots are firmly planted here in Africa, so, would we wilt when we're planted in the foreign ground, or will we flourish, is the big question!

The word retirement means -
Withdrawing from life

REALLY!!

Nope, that's not for me, I'm still enjoying living a full life and have no intention of withdrawing from life!