Accepting changes at mid-life

My days used to be so much different.

I moved to NYC in 1996 for the diversity and pace.  That was the dream.

Wow how things have changed!  It seems like another life ago now.

My schedule looked something like the following:

Wake up at  6am.

Shower/ Shave and out the door by 7am

Jammed Subway ride

At the office by 8am

Crush it for 9 or usually 10 hours.

Meet the wife for cocktails and dinner 2 or 3 nights per week.

or Subway home and tear through and sort and file the mail within 15 minutes.

At least an hour or 2 of surfing the web and paying bills, etc.

Do you need the cash?

Since our mortgage has been paid off since 2011, I slowly started taking jobs that I had been overqualified for, but still contributed some income and benefits.

Since we’ve become a one income family, here’s what my day looks like.

Wake up at 3am until around 5am or 6am.   Internet, work on the blog, Investment monitoring and research and reading.

Return to bed until about 9am.

Unrushed Shower w/ occasional shave and monitor the market for the first 30 mins to an hour.

Some days, jump a bus, which is triple the price of the subway and steps closer) to the city.

I should probably factor that extra cost into my back problem expenses.

With traffic and the Uber crush for big cities, it usually takes 1 hour, but can take up to 2, depending on where I’m going.

Early lunch or an early movie with Moviepass.

Then shop for something that might save me money on something that I can’t get in my neighborhood. (i.e. Trader Joe’s, Home Depot, etc.)

or

Explore a new location from my Yelp bookmarks that I can try for under $15.

Jump on the subway home to give me an hour to monitor the market for the final hour of trading.

4pm Watch CNBC Closing bell

5pm Watch CNBC Fast Money

Have a glass of wine and wrap up some blog items and social media management.

6:30pm Watch the evening National news.

It’s a significantly different lifestyle and a change that I’m not fully acceptant of yet.

One of my favorite bloggers pointed me to a post he wrote and said it took him 2 full years to accept a different pace.

With the job market improving, and some increased pressure on wages to the upside I’m starting to move toward getting back into it.

I miss a more frenetic pace, but I also miss having my own office…hell at least my own cubicle!  I could accept a change like that, but right now I don’t need to.

If the market dropped by about 20% my motivation would probably change in a number of ways.

I tend to view this time as a preview or “trial run” of what retirement or an early retirement might look like in 10 years.

What does it look like for you?

 

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