Why wait? That's the question that keeps surfacing in the conversations my buddy Mike and I have been having as we work on developing our RetireMyth workshop. Not as in "why wait for retirement" but as in "why wait for retirement to get a life worth living?"

We are both struck by how many people we come across who are clear that they are merely putting in time until the clock runs down to the magic moment when retirement becomes their reward for decades of living a life of quiet desperation. They are full of dreams about how glorious retirement will be: all that time to do whatever they want, whenever they want.

Yet few of them ever stop to notice that unless they teach themselves to live meaningfully, it is unlikely that they'll be any more happy or contented in retirement than they are now. In fact, unless they invest some time, money and energy into learning how to live differently they increase the chances of not even making it to retirement age ...or at least getting there in full physical and mental health.

Because there is a growing body evidence that shows that people who live feeling like they have little control of their lives are the same people who develop chronic stress related diseases: heart conditions, cancer, depression, diabetes, neurological disorders. And people who don't keep themselves mentally stimulated are much more susceptible to dementia's of various types. Even people who keep themselves physically fit but don't attend to their underlying levels of anger and rage often succumb to sudden death from heart attack and stroke!

Not that I want to terrify you, but I keep being puzzled by the large numbers of people I encounter who want to live the fantasy that the future will be different without making any kind of change in how they live today. And anyone from AA will tell you that "if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got". There isn't a magic formula here. I'm beginning to come to grips with the fact that my growing awareness of, and puzzlement by this paradoxical situation probably reflects my own inner conversations about being fit in old age. ...I keep seeing myself as a fit older person, yet I know I don't make much time in my life for fitness creating activities. So pardon me while I have a good chuckle at myself. If you agree to work on creating some meaning in your life, I'll work on getting my muscular and cardio fitness improved. Hey wait a minute, let me re-phrase that, I'll take responsibility for improving my fitness regardless of whether you choose to create a meaningful life for yourself because I know how committed I am to living long, living large and living healthily! How about you?