Wednesday, 10/21

 It’s amazing how things can stick in your head.

I received an e-mail from daily blog reader Emily in Marquette over the weekend, who was asking me about a crackpot idea I had six or seven years ago, My first response was, of course, WHICH crackpot idea? After all, I seem to come up with them on an hourly basis. But Emily said this was a crackpot idea that has not only stuck in her head for six or seven years, but has stuck in her head that long because it was actually a good idea.

A good idea? From me? You sure you’re not just sucking up, Emily?

8-)

Anyway, the crackpot idea that’s stuck in Emily’s head was this one--that we should all be able to “retire” for a couple of years while we can enjoy it, and then head back to work for a few more decades before we actually “retire retire”.

I know I’d go for that!

I mean, think of it this way--many educators get to take sabbaticals once a decade; it’s a chance for them to take time off from their jobs to spend time working on research projects, or to go back to school, or to just recharge their batteries. Well, why don’t we ALL get the chance to that? Why aren’t things set up so that people in their late 30s to late 40s, people who’ve been working hard for 20 years, get to take a year or two off to enjoy an early and temporary “retirement”? We’d get to recharge our batteries, or work on a project, or raise kids, or volunteer, or just do something stupid while we’re young enough to physically recover from it, and then go back to work for another 20+ years, until we’re ready for our “real” retirement.

Shouldn’t things be set up so that when we enter the working world, we’d save for our “mid-career” retirement the same way we save for our “real’ retirement? Shouldn’t employers realize that they could hold on to workers longer, with much less burn-out, if said workers could temporarily step back from the constant pressure and “go go go” of their chosen profession? Should we have to wait until we’re older to enjoy freedom from deadlines and clocking in and clocking out?

Is that a dumb thought, a smart idea, or just a pipe dream? I mean, think about it for a second--what would you do if you had a year off of work? And it wouldn’t even have to be a year; I’ve often dreamed of just taking a summer off, sitting on the beach every day, and doing absolutely nothing. It hasn’t happened yet, and I’m guessing it won’t happen, but if something like a “mid-life” retirement were part of our way of life, maybe then it would.

So that’s the crackpot idea, first brought up six or seven years ago, that has stuck in Emily’s head ever since. And now that it’s rolling around in YOUR head, think about it for just a little while. . .if you could take a year or two off from your current job and current lifestyle, what would you do?

(jim@wmqt.com)