Yes, that all sounds good. We'll see IF you still feel the same way when you get there... And yes, I have thought about the issues a lot over the years. And now I'm there. Yes, my current life's work involves helping a LOT of people. I tried retiring, but I'm not very good at it. It was boring.
That moment when you achieve your big goals is a crisis for most people. Dopamine floods your brain during anticipation. It's that high-energy feeling that puts you into the flow. You feel daring-- like you can win the world. But, when you "arrive" that flood of dopamine is gone. It's a very flat, sobering moment. That's when you say yourself, with some hesitation, "Next?" It's not anything like you thought it would be. And that's when a lot of people screw up. They blow the moment and lose everything that they have work for during all those years.
Here's an example that happened to me this last year...
I paid off my biggest and badest blanket commercial loan. It covered 3 major properties. Since I'm in RE, I have been working to be in this position for 35 years. I paid it off online during the pandemic since the banks were closed to customers. I waited a month. Nothing happened. So, I called the bank to find out where my paperwork was to reconvey my property titles. I was talking to a young man who answered their phones -- who was probably at home -- in his bedroom slippers...
Me, "Sir, I'm calling to ask about my paperwork on this loan I paid off."
Him, "That loan isn't paid off."
Me, "OK. What is the balance?"
Him, "0"
Me, "It sounds like it's paid off to me."
Him, "You did it all wrong!" he shouted at me through the phone.
Come to find out, they wanted me to call them before I paid it off so they could charge me a $75 fee. Yes, I paid the fee. It still took almost 2 more months to get the paperwork.
I had dreamed about this moment for years. I thought that balloons were going to fall from the ceiling. I thought that someone would shower me with confetti as I walk by. I was going to have an aurora of gold light around me. I was planning on copying that thick stack of papers I signed and have a mortgage burning party with the copies. We're were going to have a steak barbeque. Instead, I was told by a silly young man that I had done it wrong. Worse, they sent me one single piece of paper where they recorded the reconveyance of all three properties. That wasn't enough to build a fire and toast one marshmallow. I learned that bank was very unhappy that I had paid them off. Oh well.
Notice that all my expectations started with "I". But the actual experience wasn't like that at all. Do I want to make more big goals and try to climb the next mountain? I don't know right now. Give me time to catch my breath, and I'll let you know...
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