Yesterday I became 50 years old. In Swedish, we say ”to fill year” – that’s why the headline for this blogpost is ”50 years filled”. I am actually impressed by myself. Imagine that I have lived that long! All the thoughts I have thought, all the things I have done. All the knowledge and experience I have gathered!
All those young people who are born into the digital world, yeah, right… Compare that with my 24 years of computer experience and 18 years of internet experience, along with an open, curious, and tech-positive attitude!
I have contemplated what turning 50 feels like, and in my case, it’s a sense of growing from the inside out. Like, that little human seed that was me from the beginning has grown and filled out my costume, so I become better and better at being me. And if you think that way, it becomes logical to talk about ”fill 50 years,” as we do in Swedish.
In addition, my life is getting better and better, and maybe that’s because I’m becoming more of me all the time. Sometimes I contemplate retirement at 65, given that many people look forward to it, and I wonder if I will do the same. Okay, there are days when I want to quit, thinking I could be content with a monthly deposit into my bank account, with no effort on my part. But isn’t retirement a symbol of how, at last, we’ll be able to take control of our lives and do what we like? If that’s the case, I don’t think retiring is my thing. I rule myself. I am a freelance consultant. I work with inspiring things. I take on new kinds of jobs all the time, so I’m stimulated by new challenges. What would I do that would be so much better if I retired?
The Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, spoke today about retirement age in an interesting way. He suggested that people might want to change careers after they’ve turned 50. Maybe they want to work until they get 75 instead of 65? I am sure that many people get very provoked by that; their thinking patterns are so tied to the model of first being employed and then retired. As a freelancing, self-employed company owner, I believe I think differently. At least that’s how it feels when I talk to people who have always been employed. I have no model to work from; I have to build my own model. To me, it feels strange to imagine stopping work at a certain age. That would be like stopping breathing, stopping thinking, stopping living…
I have chosen to work with stuff that I like, and when I get bored, I look for new challenges. Life is about finding the right challenges, if you ask me. I think I will keep on searching for the right challenges until I die.
