Defining My Retirement

Retirement does not mean dying.

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It is true. The best time to find work is when you are so busy you do not have time to look for work. At a time when I should have been out photographing local events I have been very busy working on another personal project, all summer long. Since my retirement from a 35 year trucking profession I have spent my life chasing 2 lifelong dreams that being in the working class of society did not allow me to do. Along with pursuing my photography career I am also pursuing a career in music. It is my plan to combine these two careers to enable me to travel, learn and enjoy the rest of my life. Life is short, and sooner or later everyone comes to the final decision of what to do with the rest of their life to make life worth living. Life is either a special gift from God or a random occurrence of nature. Whether it is a one time event for each of us or not cannot be determined. We can only hope and believe that it is not a one time event. Meanwhile we should make the best of what time we have.

Now that temperatures have cooled, and my preparations for starting a career in music is coming along at a good clip, I will be starting to try to get out and do more photographic work. I am, of course, revamping my life as a photographer. Although I will still shoot anything and everything that appeals to me I will specialize in 3 distinctly different areas of photography: industrial (trucking and oilfield), travel and event (especially music) photography. To that end this morning I will re-open my account with Pinterest to start promoting these specialties.

About my specialties: I spent 35 years as a professional over-the-road truck driver. You would think that with all of the traveling I have done I would have been shooting amazing photographs at many of the amazing places I have been too. Well, back then, I was not a photographer except in my dreams. I was a professional trucker, and I had a job to do. And, I done my job to the best of my ability.  I did not have time to stop and enjoy the places I passed through, or where I loaded and unloaded.  My job was to load, travel and unload. But now, I cannot be sure, but I think I will have time to do my industrial work as I travel from gig to gig with my music.

Three years ago I was forced into early retirement due to health concerns. In three years I have made a lot of headway in regaining my health. And, through all of it I have been looking toward the future that is drawing closer with every morning that I crawl out of bed. I am ready for it.

I would like to pass along one simple hint I would like to pass on to my readers. Get yourself a hobby. You may spend all of your life working at one profession while dreaming about entering an entirely different profession. Make your dream profession your new hobby. You may not be able to make the leap while you are pressed with daily grind of living, but I would like to urge you to continue to dream of your new profession. And, I would like to encourage you to work toward the day you can pursue your dreams. Nothing in this life can be totally guaranteed. When you have downtime on your job do not waste it. Use it to make yourself better at your dream profession. It will pay off in the end.