refinement NOT retirement!

  Reflections on the Gift of Golden Time Hello, it's Tony again, and I've been thinking about my evolving position on this latter phase of my and Christine's life together.  As you may know, we recently quit our business life, and it's been a journey of learning and discovery ever since - for me more so than Christine - and it continues to be so every day. The Precious Present One thing I've learned is that I certainly don't have all the answers. I'm constantly learning more about how to make the most of the gift of time that this new phase of life has given us. I've come to appreciate that Christine and I have different perspectives. She’s very much an "in the moment" person who wears her heart on her sleeve and instinctively knows how to enjoy THE PRECIOUS PRESENT, while I tend to overthink things. Quitting work has given us the opportunity to find a balance that works for both of us. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash That's why we sta...

  Hot Tub Bliss in a Cotswolds Garden This blog post is about our latest episode of our unique refinement NOT retirement (RnR) podcast, a show which advocates REFINING your life in preference to retiring from it. My name is Tony and I co-host the RnR show with my WONDERFUL wife & life partner, Christine. On the show in this latest episode , Christine and I share one life-refinement that has filled us with daily JOY and happiness out of all proportion to the financial investment we made in it.  (This one, let me tell you, was a big contrast to our narrowboat experience!  Do listen to the 4 episodes of the podcast which cover that story, if you’ve not already done so. Clue; it ends in a nightmare!) Our time on this planet is so short, it pays to make life-refinements (i.e. enhancements) as early as you possibly can, instead of waiting for a “retirement day”which may never come; or you might leave it too late to truly reap the benefits of the refinements you make. So we...

REFINE don't retire! Tony's re-draft Okay, so you know from my last post that I tried ChatGPT to produce a first draft. I used that first draft as a basis, a launch pad for producing my final version - see below. Tune into our show where I will be discussing my thoughts about this experiment with ChatGPT. Retirement has long been considered the ultimate goal, the light at the end of the tunnel that signals a life of leisure and relaxation. But is that really still the case in the modern world?  More and more people have started to rethink the idea of retirement, realizing that it may not be the best idea to put off the good things in life until maybe it’s too late to enjoy them. Christine and I are noticing that this shift in mindset is especially true of younger people today, like our four lovely daughters, for example.  They have instead chosen to REFINE their lives in ways that that provide them and their families with a good, wholesome lifestyle. When Christine and I we...

Why did I ask ChatGPT to write a blog post on the theme of  Refine, don't retire? Since quitting work - Christine and I ran our own company for more than 30 years - I've had time to learn new things.  I've always LOVED gadgets so I took a look at AI (artificial intelligence) in general, and ChatGPT in particular.  (There's plenty of material online about this amazing new AI took that is ChatGPT, so there's no need for me to explain here.)  I asked the machine to write a blog post on the theme DON'T RETIRE, REFINE . In seconds, before my very eyes, it wrote this:  "Retirement has long been considered the ultimate goal for working individuals, the light at the end of the tunnel that signals a life of leisure and relaxation. But is that really the case?  More and more people are starting to rethink the idea of retirement, realizing that it may not be the best option for them.  Instead, they are choosing to refine their lives, continuing to engage in ac...

What WILL Christine say about this? Strolling in Kensington Mews before we escaped the rat race Without telling Christine, I snuck up to my man cave and made a monolgue episode of our RnR (refinement NOT retirement) podcast in which I explained how I'm REALLY feeling about quitting work.   I asked Christine if she'd be willing to listen to it on her own and then immediately come back l ive on air to give her reaction to my thoughts. Christine WAS willing, and here's the episode where she gives her reaction .

  On our narrowboat's maiden voyage Not all perceived refinements turn out to be positive. Let's just say for starters that our narrowboat experience wasn't ENTIRELY Tickety-Boo! In our last blog/podcast, Christine and I talked about our escape from London to The Cotswolds. Now that WAS an entirely positive change. A refinement! When we first started looking for a place in the country shortly after the COVID pandemic hit, I had the bright idea ( and this is Tony talking here ) that we should also buy a narrowboat.  I was absolutely delighted when Kiki (aka Christine) agreed and, as she always does, threw herself wholeheartedly into BOTH projects - i.e. finding a new home in the country, and purchasing a narrowboat. The first potential new home she found even had a 120ft canal mooring at the bottom of the garden.  At that time, we’d decided on having a new narrowboat built. Thank goodness we changed our minds about that idea! Since I was a small boy, I’ve been obsesse...

  Christine & Tony strolling in Hyde Park before the Great Escape As you now know, Christine and I consider ourselves to be in “refinement” (not retirement) but we have most certainly retired from the business that we’ve owned and operated together for more than 30 years. But we think we’ve been “in refinement” since a long time ago - refinements meaning changes we’ve made (both big and small) that have enhanced our lives. A major life-refinement for us was a relatively recent one -  our escape to the country, or more specifically, to The Cotswolds . For more than a quarter of a century we had been living and working in the heart of central London.  Our property was in South Kensington a few minutes walk from Kensington Palace and The Royal Albert Hall.   We lived in a flat within a building constructed in about the mid-1800s.   The property also contained our company’s premises.  It was a fantastic set-up that worked brilliantly for us. The ...

Refinement NOT Retirement (The Two Rs) Welcome to our Blog. We are Tony & Christine from the quintessential Cotswolds village of Elmley Castle where we’ve been living for the past three years after our great escape to the country from South Kensington area of London .  Now, for the first time in 40 years – for the first time in our lives in fact - we’re out of a job.  At age 66, we decided it was time to move to the next exciting chapter of our lives together.  But why avoid the R word? Well, we see RETIREMENT as a negative concept, an ENDING.  When a player "retires" from, say, a tennis match, they withdraw - they STOP competing; they give up.  We rather see what we’re doing as a TRANSITION , just one of many that we’ve made on our voyage through life together. Speaking for myself (& this is Tony speaking ) - I’ve gone through several transitions as part of a continuing process of REFINING my life. (By “refining” I mean making changes that impr...