Practice Retirement in New Beginnings

I’ve adored working from home these past two weeks. I love not having to commute. I love being able to wear jeans and t-shirts every day. I love being able to start a crock pot meal in the morning and have a healthy, tasty, hot meal ready to serve at lunch time. I love being able to do a load of laundry as needed. I love being able to open the back door and let my cats come in and out to visit me. I love being able to listen to music on my speakers instead of headphones.

Work doesn’t feel so much like work when I work from home. I just make a list of things I need to accomplish each day, and as soon as I’m done, I can go do whatever I want (I just remain on my work’s instant messenger, so my manager or coworkers can get ahold of me). I hate having to go back. The remodel isn’t finished, but close starts tomorrow, so my group has to share a conference room together. I’m dreading it.

I’m also dreading the actual remodel. Even after the remodel is finished, it’ll still be a downgrade. The new cubicles will be smaller with less privacy and storage. I don’t mind my work area shrinking. I understand they need to be able to fit more cubicles for the new employees. I don’t even mind having less storage space, but I can’t stand losing my privacy.

I wanted to stay with this job for a while. I thought I might stick out until I’m 40 when I anticipate retiring early. Depending on how much privacy I lose, I might have to look for a new job. I suppose I’m next in line to leave. Three years is the average time most people stay with a job, and I’m coming up on year four. However, considering my employment gap on my resume, I’d like to get at least five years with the same company before moving. I hope my new cubicle is bearable.

As long as I’m pondering job changes and moving, I’m not sure about where to go. For the longest time, I’ve wanted to move back to Athens. Ideally, I’d like to buy a couple of acres of land and build a house, but Athens doesn’t have a strong job market. Moving back would be contingent on whenever a job becomes available. Then, I have the fear that if I lose that job, I almost certainly won’t have another employer immediately able to hire me. Not to mention, I loathe the idea of starting over at the bottom of a new job’s learning curve. I’ve finally gotten decent enough at my current job to justify my employment; I don’t want to have to start all over.

I also don’t want to leave my Jiu Jitsu gym. I’m getting ready to test for my blue belt in the next few weeks. I feel like I’m about to graduate to the big kids table. I don’t want to leave right now. Another appeal about Athens is that my BJJ gym has a satelite gym of sorts in Athens, so I effectively wouldn’t have to change instructors. I also don’t want to leave my current gym until I reach purple belt, which is likely four years away. I suppose the staying put is the dominant strategy, but I am aching to get out of Atlanta.