掙脫桎梏，放飛靈的自由

“愛德華，今天一切可好？”下午，我信步走進以前經理的辦公室閑聊。他聞聲，撇過頭瞄了我一眼，懶懶地回了一句：“你以為呢？”然後，六尺四的大身板兒，猿臂伸展到腦後，長腿一伸把轉椅扭了四十五度，示意我坐下。“喲，聽著過得不咋地呀."

"I don't even know why I'm still doing this sh** to myself!", Ed seems a bit frustrated.

"What's wrong!" I asked

"I am wondering if I should start a brand new career over instead of keeping on doing this crap year after year." Ed blinked his eyes behind his tortoiseshell square frame glasses.

"So, what's in your mind if you don't continue with what you have been doing for 20+ years?"

"I don't know ... Maybe a chef?"

"Wow, Interesting! It sounds like you might have reached to a crossroad in your career. Maybe taking a block of time off to think through is necessary?"

"I wish I could have this luxury. One college kid, one senior high about to go to college, wife stay at home ... Well, does not seem I have much choice..."

"Well, not necessary. We often set block for ourselves by applying routine thinking which caged us in for many years ever since we started own family and put luggage on our shoulder to support the family."

其實， 人到中年，孩子出門上大學，俗稱“空巢”了， 做父母的我們真的應該好好為自己多想想了。問一下自己，我在做我自己喜歡的事嗎？這樣的日子我還能過幾年？是不是要開始提前給自己做退休規劃啦？“做什麽退休規劃？退了，就是每天不用上班，不用看老板臉色，不用和同事虛與委蛇，不用......，反正就是可以每天睡到自然醒，好好休息，到處旅行，想幹嘛就幹嘛了唄？”這是我常聽到的說法。

想得美！俗話說得好“理想是豐滿的，現實是骨感的”。We always thought the other side of grass is greener（得不到的總是美好的），不是嗎？我真的不是危言聳聽。

事實是，退休後日子並不是隻有一天，一個星期，一個月，或三個月。理論證明，退休後的人都會經曆休假期，迷茫期，焦慮期，然後呢？大部分的人因為沒有提早思考和計劃，最後不是輪回到原來的工作的漩渦中繼續卷，抑或是一路滑向暮年等死。隻有有準備和有計劃的人才能平穩地過渡到幸福的下一人生階段。

人介五十，"不惑"並不是必然。真的能"不惑"的，仍舊需要懂得好好規劃。問題是，怎麽算是好好規劃能呢？舉個例子，家裏雙職工的，如果有一方對現有的工作不是那麽熱愛，甚至有些厭倦的話，契機來了，兩人該一起下決心讓這一方辭職從不喜歡的朝九晚五的牢籠裏脫出來了，開始開放式思維，去觀察和研究一些自己生活中真正有興趣的事。這些事或許和原來的工作有些許交集，又或許完全不搭界。然後就是去一個個嚐試囉。