We spend much of our lives preparing for the future. We work, save, build careers, and tell ourselves that someday, when we retire, we’ll finally have the time to enjoy life on our own terms.
But what if retirement shouldn’t be the beginning of the life we want to live?
A recent interview with Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay got me thinking about how easily a job can become part of our identity. His experience raises a larger question: What happens when the job is no longer there? Perhaps the answer is to begin building a life beyond our work long before retirement arrives.
There are many ways to do that. RVing was the route I chose, and for me, it turned out to be a wonderful way to live.
When your job becomes your identity
There is more to who we are than what we do
There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in what you do. A career can provide purpose, accomplishment, friendships, and a sense of who we are. For some, it can become something they genuinely love.
The problem comes when the job becomes too much of who we are.
That was what caught my attention in Sean McVay’s 60 Minutes interview. After years of coaching and the pressure to win, he realized how closely his identity had become tied to the outcome of football. Winning mattered but it couldn’t provide the lasting fulfillment he had expected.
His experience made me think about how easily this can happen to any of us. We spend decades defining ourselves by what we do, measuring our days by what we accomplish, and looking toward the next goal.
Then one day, the job ends.
The question isn’t simply: What will I do with all that free time? It’s more fundamental: Who am I when the work that helped define me is no longer part of every day?
Maybe that’s something worth thinking about long before retirement arrives.
Don’t put life on hold
The best time to build a life worth living is before you retire
It’s easy to tell ourselves we’ll do the things we really want someday. We’ll travel more, spend time with family, pursue an interest, or simply slow down when we retire.
But someday isn’t guaranteed.
Years can pass while work continues to take priority. Before we realize it, retirement is approaching, and we may have spent so much time preparing to leave our jobs that we haven’t prepared for what comes next.
I’m not suggesting we abandon work or ignore our responsibilities. Work is part of life and for many people an important part. But it doesn’t have to be the only part.
There are many ways to begin building a life beyond the workplace while we’re still working. Take the trip. Develop the interest. Make time for family. Discover what makes you happy.
Retirement can give you more freedom but it shouldn’t be the first time you begin living the life you want.
Plan for the life, not just the retirement
Money matters but so does knowing what you want to do with your time
Retirement planning often begins with a financial question: Will I have enough money?
That’s important but there’s another question worth asking: What kind of life do I want that money to support?
Retirement can give us something we rarely have during our working years: time. But having time doesn’t automatically make the days meaningful. Without something to look forward to, the freedom we worked so hard to achieve can feel surprisingly empty.
I was fortunate to find my answer in RVing. It gave me a way to travel, explore, experience new places, and keep learning. After all these years, it remains an important part of what makes my life enjoyable.
But RVing isn’t the answer for everyone. It might be travel, family, volunteering, learning, the outdoors, or simply having the freedom to pursue interests you’ve put aside.
The possibilities are endless.
The important thing is to have some idea of what you’re retiring to, not just what you’re retiring from.
Once you know what that life might look like, you can begin planning for it.
Make your money serve your life
Retirement planning is about more than replacing a paycheck
Knowing what you want retirement to look like makes financial planning more meaningful.
Instead of simply asking: How much money do I need to retire? ask, How much will I need to live the life I want after the paychecks stop?
Those aren’t necessarily the same question.
Retirement can last for decades. If you want those years to be more than simply getting by, the lifestyle you envision needs to be part of your financial plan.
RVing certainly was for me. We had to plan for the motorhome, fuel, campgrounds, maintenance, and other expenses that come with traveling. Those weren’t simply costs. They helped make the lifestyle we wanted possible.
That’s the point of financial planning. You’re not just planning to leave work. You’re planning to fund the years of life that come after it.
The sooner you know what you want those years to look like, the more time you have to make that life possible.
Tomorrow isn’t promised
There’s a reason not to put all of life on hold
There’s another reality we don’t like to think about: we don’t know how much time we have.
We can spend decades planning for retirement, only to discover that life doesn’t always follow our plans. Some never reach retirement. Others arrive with less health, energy, or freedom than they expected.
That’s not a reason to stop planning for the future. It’s a reason to balance planning for tomorrow with living today.
I learned that through RVing. We didn’t wait for some distant perfect time to begin exploring. We made travel and discovery part of our lives and it has remained a source of enjoyment for decades.
You don’t have to own an RV to do that. The point is to recognize that the years you’re living now are part of your life too.
Plan for the future, but don’t postpone everything you want from life until then.
The time you have now matters.
A life needs more than a paycheck
What fills your days matters as much as what pays for them
A job can fill our days with responsibilities, goals, and accomplishments. When it ends, all that time doesn’t automatically become meaningful.
That’s why I think it’s important to have more than a career. We need things that give us reasons to get up in the morning, places to go, people to share life with, and experiences to look forward to.
For me, RVing became part of that life. It gave us somewhere to go and something to discover. Even after all these years, there is still another road, another place, and another experience waiting ahead.
That’s what I value most about this lifestyle. It isn’t simply what we do with our time. It gives us something to live for beyond our work.
Perhaps that’s the real goal: when the job ends, don’t let your life end with it. Have a life waiting for you.
I found my way of living
There are many ways to build a life worth looking forward to
There are many ways to build a fulfilling life beyond a career. What works for one person may not work for another.
For me, that path was RVing.
As we begin our 30th year of snowbirding, I realize how much this lifestyle has given me. It has kept life moving, provided endless opportunities to explore and learn, and given me something to look forward to year after year.
At 85, I’m especially grateful that I didn’t wait for some perfect time to begin living this way. We chose a lifestyle that suited us, made plans to make it possible. and kept going.
I’m not suggesting everyone should become an RVer. The important thing is to find your own route to a life you want to live.
For me, the road turned out to be a pretty good one.
A life worth living
Retirement isn’t the destination. It’s another chapter of the journey
Sean McVay’s story reminded me how easily a career can become such a large part of our lives that we forget there is a person beyond the job. A fulfilling life is bigger than a title, a paycheck, or a list of accomplishments.
That’s why I believe we shouldn’t wait for retirement to figure out what makes life meaningful. Have a plan for the years ahead, including a financial plan to help make that life possible. But don’t put everything you want to experience on hold while waiting for some future date.
There are many ways to live a fulfilling life. RVing was the route I chose and after 30 years of snowbirding, it has been a wonderful one for me. It has given me places to go, things to discover and, most importantly, something to look forward to.
We don’t know how many years we have ahead of us. We can decide what we do with the years we have.
Don’t wait for retirement to start living. Build a life worth living now and let your work be part of that life, not the whole of it.
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Editor’s note
This article was originally published in October 2026. Information reflects what was accurate at the time of writing. Conditions, access, and amenities may change over time, so please verify current details before planning your trip.
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