The Retirement Speech (that I will never have to give)
What could be a worse fate than having lived, yet never having been alive?
*Listen to this speech on Spotify or watch it on YouTube:
~~~
What could be a worse fate than having lived,
Yet never having been alive?
If you have full closets and an empty life,
Are you wealthy?
Does a man’s title or salary make him a success,
Or does success mean to enjoy one’s life?
I’ve had a busy life full of hollow, shallow relationships.
There just wasn’t enough time.
Now I am retired and tired of deferring life,
For that glittering gold at the end of the rainbow.
Where did this life go?
It slipped away.
While I chased gold that doesn’t exist,
Present gifts traded for dust and mist.
And missed the rainbow entirely,
Just so someone would hire me.
I raced to keep pace,
And save a face that wasn’t even mine.
Just a mask.
A mask with no time to waste,
No time to chase butterflies or rainbows,
Or stop and smell flowers.
Hours gone.
Vanished,
Into a screen,
Lost forever in a machine.
I’ve been biting my tongue for far too long,
But what if my entire life has been wrong?
I joined this civilized society,
A life of pent-up anxiety.
Monotony crept in the way,
I never allowed my soul a say.
And do you know that while we’re in here,
They’re out there?
Uncivilized spirits soaking in that free air,
Breeze in their hair.
Living life in the present,
Hardly a worry or care.
Losing their minds in the crashing waves on a beach in Fiji,
Dropping their jaws at the majesty,
Of a snow-capped world from a Colorado peak,
No words to speak.
Connecting with their souls as they are gliding across the Caribbean Sea,
On a catamaran in the Virgin Islands…living wild and free.
All of our boats have been living their lives,
Safely in the harbor.
But boats are not built to spend all of time tied to dry land.
Never leaving the safety of the sand.
Neither am I.
Yet, I’ve never felt the mist of a New Zealand waterfall,
Or a million stars piercing through an utter black hall;
The sky above the Nullabor plain,
I heard could drive a man utterly sane.
Why couldn’t it be me out there?
Open air,
Open sea,
Wild and free.
Now I see.
It could have.
It would have.
If I allowed it to be.
“There has to be more!”, I would feel.
And there was.
Could there still be?
Don’t you wait to find out,
But now I must go and see.
~~~
Don't waste your life, friends.
Think about what you may regret later and make changes now.
Carpe diem and enjoy the journey!
-Mike
Do you feel like a free spirit TRAPPED in monotony?
Are you ready to GET UNSTUCK and LOVE YOUR LIFE!?
If you’re ready for a proven system, an INNER EVOLUTION, that includes personal coaching, community, and accountability, click here to learn about “The Transformation”, the signature coaching program I run with my incredible wife Alisa.
Just want to dip your toe in? Check this out: ArtOfTimeMastery.com
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Enjoy the journey!
Mike