Breathe, and retire early~

392 words, 2 minutes read time.

I know how the world of recent has encouraged us all to become more goal-conscious than ever before. A person can barely board a bus or pay a toll without being asked what their goals are. Their short-term goals, their life goals. financial goals, you name it. And some goals are important, Things like making it to the bathroom on time, or to continue breathing throughout the course of a reasonable lifetime, or life cycle. Simple stuff.

And that’s all fine, having goals that is, but to me, goals are only a source for anxiety, stress, constant apprehension, all, to say the least. What if I fail to reach the bathroom on time? Will people gasp, point fingers, tell their friends? This analogy can be transferred to any goal. Failure to obtain any goal has its own consequences. Why bother with such silly emotional baggage?

On the other hand, there are way too many people who feel 0bliged to obtain their goals at any cost. The narcissists, the egomaniacs, let’s just call them what they actually are: the mean people, the bullies, the selfish. These goal seekers always get their way, always at a cost to others. We’re talking the Charlie Kirks, the Donald Trumps, and the Ma Barkers. You can probably spin your own list of this type easily enough.

I wasted much of my life as a relatively goal-oriented person. Being such allowed me to retire early. Still, at sixty-nine and a half, I continue to take on contracts from old clients: the CIA, MI6, the KGB, and a couple of corporate clients. I enjoy the challenge of researching and stalking targets. You might say mine is a goal-oriented profession, but it’s not. Most of what I do is Google searches, and some follow-up on Wikipedia. I enjoy stalking people the most. Beyond that, it’s simply point-and-shoot.

Of course, there are as many variations to that routine as jobs I’ve performed. Still, no real goals involved, it’s just going to work, doing a job, and getting paid. Were there goals involved, I suppose I could revert to the basics: make it to the bathroom on time and continue breathing. My response to the query is never. Goals don’t exist.

-dalton

3-25-26

Daily writing prompt

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

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