I was thinking about life itself.
It’s interesting as I sit here right now over the last couple of days I was out in Dallas and Fort Worth teaching Saturday and Sunday.
And it’s interesting because this is the last year I am doing it, and I am going to teach. I have been doing it now for 19 years here at Lifestyles.
But this is going to be my last year because I can’t do it anymore—two-day seminar, eight hours a day, 16 hours standing. I can’t do it. The last three times I have given this seminar my knees have swollen up and my ankles have swollen up.
Don’t Get old
Now, I am not doing this, telling you this for sympathy, I am going somewhere with this thing and that’s this: Two and a half years after I started investing in real estate at 34 years of age I retired. And from 34 years of age to 52 years of age, which is quite a long period of time, I’ve had nothing but an incredibly incredible life.
And I had the money to do that, and I had the freedom to do that because I became financially free. Here’s my point. I am going to tell people now at the seminars I am going to give you the most important information that I can possibly give you and that is don’t get old.
Getting old is absolutely not fun. Now I know you can sit there and you can rationalize to yourself—and by the way, I am not insulting old people in any way, shape, or form. We all get old. I’m getting old. That’s my point I’m making.
Why Wait to Retire?
But my point here is something far different. Why is it that we wait to retire till we are so old that we can hardly do anything? Here I am at 52 years of age I was a competitive body builder, powerlifter, Olympic lifter, football player, boxer, karate—I have done it all—and I did that my whole youthful life.
But by the time I was 31, 32 years of age, I could tell that my body could not do those things anymore. I couldn’t compete at the high national level that I wanted to compete at. And I realized that there was an aging thing going on. And I wanted to make sure that I was able to live the rest of my life comfortably.
52 Living like 25
Now, what I can’t see is—and I guess I have to go around in circles a couple times and come back to it is that how do you plan your retirement career for 62? I am 52 and my knees swell when I stand for long periods of time, my ankles swell. I can’t do hardly anything that I used to be able to do and have as much fun as I used to be able to do it at.
Now, you could sit there and rationalize yourself oh, that’s the wrong way to look at life. Hey, look, get off all that crap. Reality is I still live my life like I’m 25.
In fact, people kid me all the time and say you are 52 trying to act like you are 25. You have got your numbers backwards, and that’s probably why I get injured so often. But you know what, I would rather live like I’m 25 than live like I’m 52, and that’s because I like to live life at the maximum possible existence.
But let’s go back and forget about me for a second because I’m really not trying to talk about me, I’m just trying to weave in and out of here to get to this point. When are you going to retire? When are you going to do something for your financial situation that will allow you to buy back your life?
When are You Going to Retire?
Are you going to wait till you’re 60 or 70 years old? I mean, really I wish that they would let us be retired when we’re young and then work when we’re old because when we’re old there’s not much we can do except sit here and play on the computer or do something like that. I tell you what, I can’t even imagine the person that’s 50, 60, 70 years of age and they still have to get up and go to a job.
I don’t know how you can do it. I mean, today I got up this morning, and I got in the jacuzzi. And last night we were watching movies and soaking my knees, and I had 101 fever from, you know, having my leg swollen up for two days straight and still doing it. My body couldn’t take it. I caught a fever.
And we were sitting there last night, and I had my legs packed in ice, and then as soon as we unpacked the ice they had them in heating pads. And we got up this morning and we were in the jacuzzi, and by today I can walk again. Things are cool. I am alive. My temperature came back down under 100.
Freedom of Choice and Time
But my point is I am in fairly good physical condition. What about you? What about your life? When do you deserve to get your life back? When do you deserve to start having the time to live life the way you should—the way all of us want to live it. You know, we all have different ideas about what’s fun—it’s not really the idea—but it’s freedom of choice, of time. And then do that before you are so physically crippled that you can’t do any fun things anymore.
I am addicted to this stupid little show The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. And it just blows my mind the dates these guys go on, the places they go, and the things that they do, and how extremely interesting these things are. And I think to myself, you know, that’s the kind of life everybody should live.
The Kind of Life Everyone Should Live
And we are sitting there writing all these places down as we watch these shows—yeah, write that, let’s go there this year, let’s go there next year, let’s do this, let’s do that — thinking what a wonderful, exciting way to live. And yet how many people can’t do it? You know, they showed them skiing.
I was thinking to myself boy, you know, I am sure glad I did a lot of skiing when I was young ‘cause I don’t know that I could even ski anymore now that my knees are messed up as bad as they are. And I never had any problems with my knees until here of late, just the last year. But in the last two years since I became 50 years of age, I have had serial, serial problems, physical ailments that have kept me down and kept me out of the gym—one thing after another—one shoulder then the other shoulder then a broken toe and staph, broken knee, shot—blew out a quad, blew out a knee, blew out an ankle. And it’s just like the body needs to go back to the wrecking—you know, it’s time to throw it away. It’s been used.
Optimal Living
And I guess what I am saying to you is this, there is an end to life here on earth. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are or where you are going to be or whatever, that’s fine. When I get to the next place, I am going to be just as crazy as I am here. But while I am here I want to live life the way I believe is most optimum here.
And being broke and being poor and being on the edge of starvation and living a life of quiet desperation, to me that isn’t life at all. And especially when you are physically unfit. Especially when you are waiting and working and suffering your whole life. That’s just too much to ask of any person. It’s too much to ask of you. When will you take the shot? When will you take the steps necessary to buy back your life from corporate America and live free? Just once from here on out, the rest of your life live free.
