Stress
The Forces of Stress
We are learning more everyday that stress is truly a force that we don’t quite understand yet, but we are smart enough to know that it can do a lot more damage then cause an occasional headache. Now days, we have a lot more people worrying about getting a job, keeping a job, having enough personal time for their family or down time for themselves. Is all the stress really worth it? What is it doing to my body and my home life?
A man once said that stress and worry are like paying interest on a debt you do not owe. When you think about it neither one accomplishes anything more than making you sick. Many of us are powerless to change tomorrow without making some significant change in our lives to remove the stress that is taking its toll.
Many people are deciding to make a quality decision to stay closer to their families and support networks. In this process, many are rethinking their lives. They are examining ways to reduce stress. That is why the gyms and jogging trails are full.
What does all this have to do with retirement? Well if retirement is the goal and we are supposed to be planning for a rich, fulfilling life to the end, it is natural to take that into consideration as we rethink our lives. The big change is that the process is happening earlier in the career rather than later. That is a good thing. Stress will kill you if you don’t face it head on.
As the current labor market is becoming more of a challenge and concern for many workers, it also has a positive impact of forcing people to count the cost. So while everything may look OK on the surface, we have thousands maybe millions of somewhat unhappy employees starting to seriously think about finding a balance between work and life. This brings up that age old question, “Am I living to work, or working to live?” The answer to that question is going to have a dramatic impact on retirement in the years to come.