The Golden Years
For the last century or so we, in the United States, have been conditioned to believe in something called “The Golden Years.” We are expected to scrimp, save, and put our dreams on hold for this final idyllic crescendo of our lives. A time in which we’ll proudly wear orthopedic shoes, take tour buses to Vegas, and blow huge sums of money on slots while we incinerate what’s left of our brain cells with a never ending deluge of cheap booze.
After being in the crypto space now for a couple of years my eyes have been opened and it all seems so ridiculously unbelievable. Unfortunately, this big lie has become one of the United States' main exports. I’m ashamed to admit that I bought into this lie in a huge way when I was working my corporate job. For well over a decade I pounded that Kool Aid hard, working overtime, living an extremely spartan life while sweating every single dollar I spent.
Back then, my top priority was saving as much as I could to insure we could live comfortably in our old age. I squirreled away twelve percent of my income into a 401k. In retrospect, that “investment in my future” made me very little and the expenses and fees which were steadily skimmed off the top probably paid for lavish sweet sixteen parties for several Wall Street bankers' kids. This was well before I learned the world, as I knew it, was completely rigged.
When I think back to how naive I was it would be easy to get angry at all of the time I lost. However, my spiritual practice has shown me repeatedly that things happen in their own time, exactly when they’re meant to. Thanks to that, I feel little regret. Like billions of others I was duped by the puppet masters who’ve engineered a society in which 98% of the population slaves away for the top 2% to live a life of almost unimaginable luxury.
A little over eight months ago I was reborn and walked away from that corporate job forever. I’ve learned that in this world you must take nothing for granted and at the same time question everything. Don’t ever differ your dreams for anyone else’s. You must become a true friend and advocate to yourself and others.
Today, I’m working on a project that I’m totally believe in and am consumed with (HardFork) with a team of people I love, admire, and respect. Now, each day, I’m working diligently and getting closer towards my own ultimate goals.
I saw a Tweet by someone I follow on Twitter the other day that summed up the definition of my vision of ultimate goal so completely and concisely it was though it was plucked from my own brain.
He wrote….
Freedom
What a beautiful word. It’s a concept I thought I understood before but I didn’t until recently. My entire life philosophy has shifted towards true freedom in these last few years. As a result of this I now feel an obligation to help educate others and show them there’s a new path...a much better way. After my own metamorphosis, despite the ups and downs of the crypto market, there hasn’t been a morning that my feet have hit the floor that I don’t feel grateful and energized.
Here is a poem I wrote years ago but now seems like a strange premonition...
I’m happy to say these are, indeed, the golden years and I hope I get to experience many more of them. Oh, and that .gif at the top is how I imagine I’ll be behaving at SteemFest 25, where I'll likely be referred to as that crazy old coot who helped to write HardFork. Maybe I'll climb to a rep rating of 76 by then. ; )
Never forget each moment is golden.
Thanks for reading!
Eric Vance Walton
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)
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You are right on target, so many of my co-workers would fight for overtime. I made a very good living, but after 40 hours i wanted to go home to my family. You need to get to the point when you retire that your home is paid off, this is so important. I know people that are living in an apartment where the rent keeps going up that will NEVER be able to stop working. I worked to live, and support my wife and 3 children. I tell people that just live for overtime that you can't get the years back.......
Resteemed!!!!! :)
Thanks for the support @silvertop! I couldn't agree more, you definitely can't get those years back. As I get older I realize how fragile a thing health is and it's so sad to see people burning through their best years differing gratification for some idyllic moment that may never come.
Once again we are of the same mind. It is true there is programming about getting older. Old by a number of age, is looked down in our country, almost like a disease instead of a natural process. We can stay healthy and happy and have wrinkles. The media's idea of old and my idea of old are 2 different things. I am starting my 2nd career at 60 something. Why not? By 70 who knows how wonderful my life will be. Life is great now and getting better. As far as rep who knows, I have not thought of that.
I share your great enthusiasm of aging @rebeccabe! It seems like I really didn't even know who I was until I reached age 40 or so and (for the most part) the knowledge and wisdom just gets deeper each year. Our Western culture has it all wrong. I like the Eastern traditions of valuing the wisdom and experience of elders. It's a crime how seniors are isolated and warehoused in our society. I think there should be more intermingling between young people and the elderly, both could teach one another amazing things. I was only kidding about my rep rating, I don't give it much thought but have been at a 76 for over a year. Congratulations on starting your second career! Can I ask what it is?
@ericvancewalton my 2nd career is really nothing and everything I am doing now. I have no way to really know. Haha! Thanks for asking.
When it comes to being old I often refer to myself as a bad robot. I do not plan on being nice and shiny like the other robots. Being a good robot and buying into what the media telling us we "should be" comes with a high price to pay.
Years ago yoga and meditation were not the fads they are now. Some places in the south where I am from referred to them as evil. Pressing forward I believe we did what we were supposed to do.
Really fun and potent post @ericvancewalton, hopefully we'll all be feisty and fun-loving into our later years, I plan to be queen of the kooks ;-)
Thank you Ruth! I feel like I’m getting more and more eccentric as I age. Maybe someday I’ll be crowned King of the Kooks! 😂
Wow well the truth is sometimes we never know how audacious and ignorant we've been living until we've left a particular system, the truth is the organisation take advantage of people to make use of them like cattles on ranches while making them believe that they're working for a period of which they will have to settle down and enjoy.
Unfortunately there's nothing golden about this, how about a person who dies in this period of hardwork? Do they have a golden life too?
I'm glad you are fulfilled after leaving this system, cheers this is really eye opening
Yes, @josediccus, we all are blind to systems and schools of thought that we were immersed in from our very first breath. It's very sad because the system is designed so ingeniously most don't even realize they aren't free. Our country, the US, does a good job of making people in other parts of the world believe this is the "land of opportunity" but the truth is it only is for a very select few. Our "middle class" is almost non-existent now and would cease to exist if it wasn't for consumer credit. It's a very precarious situation.
You can say this again Eric, the truth is many people in my country believes the united states is flowing with milk and honey and this post and your comment is really an eyeopener.
Very beautiful story and agree with it . In corporate job we can not feel freedom . We work like a slave . But we need much money to invest in crypto or other to get rid of slavery of job.
Thanks @pardeepkumar! The beauty of cryptocurrency is you don't really need a lot of capital to get in, although these days opportunity will be quickly drawing to a close as the market keeps growing. There are still a few coins that are trading for pennies but are on track to be worth much more in the future. The best thing we can do now is educate ourselves about which of these projects hold promise then invest and hold onto them.
You're so right, I read a must-read book called The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco, and since then I have been on a mission to generate wealth while I'm young enough to enjoy it.
To be honest I've always thought the model was flawed, when I was 18 I saw my mother get screwed over by the company she'd given the majority of her adult life to.
I realised that no matter what job I could think of, I couldn't get away from that 5/2 ratio, whereby you live for the weekend and hate the weeks.
However it was only since reading that book that I have realised the way to escape that bullcrap and leverage my time properly. Steemit has helped but I will start and flourish a business that will get me out of that forever!
Investments are great, crypto or not, as is saving and not getting into needless personal debt, however it is by giving value to as many people as possible that will create real wealth.
Glad to see you haven't choked on that Red Pill Eric! :-)
Cg
You are smart to focus on wealth generation while you're young, @cryptogee. I'm convinced your own business, cryptocurrency, and real estate investment are the last in roads. Even then you have to be smart enough to not fall into the "trappings of success", the material things that will burn through your money as fast as you make it. My advice would be to be weary of traditionally managed investment vehicles and financial planners, they're laden with hidden fees and expenses. Have you ever read James Altucher's book "Choose Yourself"? That's what set me on the road to where I am today. He has several books worth reading and a great podcast. Best of luck on your journey towards freedom my friend!
You are already helping educate others by doing it Eric!! Fun to watch.
Thank you @annhoyblog! There's never a day that passes that I'm not grateful. Are you making it to SF3?!
Excellent motivation, my friend and I also hope to meet the Golden Years at the SteemFest 25! You are right, before cryptography, we practically all were engaged in routine work, and someone at that time lived in luxury and our way which we chose in crypto gives us personal and professional freedom, I very much hope that we will achieve even greater results! By the way, a beautiful poem! Thank you, Eric.
Thank you so much @serkagan! I struggled working two careers for 20+ years before cryptocurrency. It was like working two full time jobs most days. I still work a lot, but it's on things that I'm passionate about and things that could potentially directly enrich me instead of making several layers of bosses above me rich. I appreciate your comments, as always.
It inspires how to live a good and right life. In addition, you write poetry with emotional maturity and diction that are quite touching. Thank you sir.
Happy golden years
Thank you!
I was just reading an article in my local press on how women should have the right to work for as long as men and not be forced to retire at 60. (EU policy). Apparently, being a slave till you die is a right now! Good luck with your project!
Thank you @ladyrebecca! I had no idea women were forced to retire at age 60! Retirement age here in the US for my generation is 72 but they will keep raising it indefinitely. For the first time in history life expectancy is going down here in the US. I imagine eventually they'll peg the retirement age to a year below average life expectancy. It's difficult not to be cynical.