Anyone else nervous about quitting a perfectly good job (by society's standards)

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

You know, there really is no job secure enough, relationship secure enough, health plan secure enough, economy secure enough, retirement secure enough. I bet people in September of 1929 thought they were secure. People in early 2008 probably thought they were secure too. One  big event, and everything can change. The Buddha taught that everything is impermanent, nothing stays the same, everything will change. To think everything will be secure will just set you up for disappointment.

I love this post.

 

[OutdoorFT]

You know, there really is no job secure enough, relationship secure enough, health plan secure enough, economy secure enough, retirement secure enough. I bet people in September of 1929 thought they were secure. People in early 2008 probably thought they were secure too. One  big event, and everything can change. The Buddha taught that everything is impermanent, nothing stays the same, everything will change. To think everything will be secure will just set you up for disappointment.

So true. At my job, people who put in 30+ years are being pushed to retire or deal with their bidded jobs being altered. Even after 36 years they are changing their jobs. Noone is safe.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

If it turns out to be cancer or worse I'll commit a minor federal crime plead guilty and get healthcare from the system. If it's terminal I'll make an exit bag and off myself rather then suffer.

There are a couple of states that have right to die policies with some kind of length of time you need to be a resident to "participate."

 

[mayble]

I was wondering if retirement/quitting work allows you to become who you were supposed to be all along; all the false rules and requirements we've dealt with since we were tiny little kids fall away and we have to figure out who we are.

Just think of the sweet little child, so excited for her first day of school.  For the next 70 years someone will tell her what time to get up in the morning, what to wear, where to go & what to do when she gets there, and when she can go home.
Poor kid has no clue.

 

[SoulRaven]

FreeToBe,

My husband walked away from his job last year. He was only 59 years old at the time and a truck driver. He handed back the keys to the truck that he was driving for the last 15 years and hasn't looked back. His current job now is to look after an annoying wife. hahahaha. No seriously even though he worked as a truck driver near the end he had had enough of it and was ready and glad to give it up when i came along and turned his whole life upside down. Now all we have to do is try and sell off everything and just enjoy life as a retired couple.

There's one thing that i learnt a long time ago and that is life is too short. I once worked in the government corporate industry and worked alongside an aging colleague. One day this person was ready to retire after 40 years of work at the ripe old age of 60 and organized to go traveling around Australia with the wife. He worked all his life and provided for his wife and kids and now it was his time to retire,enjoy life and enjoy his time with his wife. In his last day of work we had a going away party for him in the office and we all wished him good luck and fared him well. That afternoon on his way home and whilst boarding the train he had had a stroke and died on the spot. He never got the chance to go see his wife for dinner that night nor did he get the chance to enjoy his life in retirement.

My mother passed away at the age of 64 one month shy of her 65th birthday she died of cancer. She too did not get to enjoy her life she looked after the kids and catered to her husband and when he got sick she cared for and looked after him, then when he died she put all her effort into fixing her house and renovating it so as to leave it for the kids. She too died not getting the chance to enjoy her life.

What I'm trying to say is life is too short to keep putting things off and if you are able to financially give up working and if you really do want to go traveling then do it. If you don't want to do it full time then stay at work and just travel on the breaks that your job offers such as week ends and holidays.

 

[free2enjoy]

My biggest concern about quitting is health insurance.  

I make a good living but actually enjoy a small percentage of it because mortgages, taxes, insurance, repairs, etc...., consume most of the paycheck.   And I really don't want anything in terms of stuff.   So financially, I don't have a problem walking away from my career (airline pilot), but that health insurance issue is the lingering concern.

How I wish this federal gov't was for the people instead of for the corporations, especially the military industrial complex.....to see all that money thrown away destroying other countries while depleting the wealth of the middle class is so saddening.  I really can't stand that through my taxes, I'm helping to finance this.