Retirement Comfort Does Not Translate into Retirement Happiness

Here are bits and pieces relating to retirement that I was going to use in How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free but never got around to.

• It goes without saying that people who rely on boring jobs for fulfillment are probably boring individuals who will get even more bored in retirement.


• If there was ever a time in your life to be wild in the purest sense of the word, retirement is it.


• The universe assures you that you will have a much easier go around in life when you stop following the herd. Your chances for a full, relaxed, satisfying, and happy life will tend to increase in direct proportion to how much you are out of step with the rest of society. Indeed, the more unconventional and eccentric you are, the better.


• The pursuit of happiness in retirement can be quite elusive. Comfort does not translate into happiness. Living in physical comfort doesn't mean personal fulfillment nor does it mean personal joy nor does it mean a feeling of success.


• Joseph Conrad stated, "It's extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it's just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome."