Headphones & Hoodie

Image from user louisponce on Midjourney.

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

I’ve entered a new phase of my work-life balance, in that I’m really trying to find a balance that is more life-life. I am spending far more time calculating when work can end and life can begin. Scientists have speculated that life began about 4.5 billion years ago, but for me I’m ready to kick off in the late afternoon, early evening at the latest. Yes, I’m spending a lot of my time matriculating when I can retire.

I say “retire” but I really mean stopping working for someone else and starting doing the things I want to do for once. How many years do you have to keep doing someone else's projects before you can start working on your own? Of course, I ask this from a place of privilege. I've worked for over 30 years and for many of those years I've contributed to retirement savings plans and other investments. Some years (the 2008 financial crisis say) a lot of those savings were wiped out, and other years economic downturns have wreaked havoc on those plans. That's sort of what's happening now. Economically speaking, "Orange" is the new red; a chaotic American administration is destroying markets and all of my savings are in those markets. Also, it’s not a good time to have Canadian dollars and portfolios of stock made up of companies that are leaking value with every fart from below the 49th parallel. The losses are such that I should probably put the retirement abacus aside and focus on getting back to work.

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