What Would You Do for Free for the Rest of Your Life?
Meeting a woman who already answered that question challenges me to do the same.
I met Judy in Yosemite National Park in the summer of 2018 while completing a social documentary course during my senior year of college.
Judy was a retired school teacher from Stockton, California (my hometown). During the summers, she worked as a volunteer at the information booth in Mariposa Grove, where visitors rode the shuttle to see the giant Sequoia trees.
A fascinating woman, she previously lived in South America, spoke fluent Spanish, and had spent 30 years working as a high school and elementary school teacher in Stockton.
She told me that she always rode her bicycle to work, as a school teacher, and while volunteering in Yosemite Valley.
Having retired early at age 55, she was in her 70s when we met, and she had been volunteering for about a decade at that point.
I think about Judy sometimes and wonder:
“What is something I love doing so much that I would do it for free after I retire?”
Judy found the answer for herself… just look at her! She was warm, spirited, and awfully spry for a woman approaching 80, and had no signs of slowing down any time soon.
When I saw her, I could tell Judy was living the dream. I could see it in her face.
Have you thought about what you would do with your time if you didn’t need to make money anymore? Where would you live? What would a day in your life look like?
What is it that you love so much that you’d be willing to do it for free even until your very last day?
I’m not sure about my answers to those questions yet. But I’m thinking about it, thanks to Judy, who really got me thinking.
When I get older, I want to be like Judy, with a smile just like that.