“爱德华，今天一切可好？”下午，我信步走进以前经理的办公室闲聊。他闻声，撇过头瞄了我一眼，懒懒地回了一句：“你以为呢？”然后，六尺四的大身板儿，猿臂伸展到脑后，长腿一伸把转椅扭了四十五度，示意我坐下。“哟，听着过得不咋地呀."
"I don't even know why I'm still doing this sh** to myself!", Ed seems a bit frustrated.
"What's wrong!" I asked
"I am wondering if I should start a brand new career over instead of keeping on doing this crap year after year." Ed blinked his eyes behind his tortoiseshell square frame glasses.
"So, what's in your mind if you don't continue with what you have been doing for 20+ years?"
"I don't know ... Maybe a chef?"
"Wow, Interesting! It sounds like you might have reached to a crossroad in your career. Maybe taking a block of time off to think through is necessary?"
"I wish I could have this luxury. One college kid, one senior high about to go to college, wife stay at home ... Well, does not seem I have much choice..."
"Well, not necessary. We often set block for ourselves by applying routine thinking which caged us in for many years ever since we started own family and put luggage on our shoulder to support the family."
其实， 人到中年，孩子出门上大学，俗称“空巢”了， 做父母的我们真的应该好好为自己多想想了。问一下自己，我在做我自己喜欢的事吗？这样的日子我还能过几年？是不是要开始提前给自己做退休规划啦？“做什么退休规划？退了，就是每天不用上班，不用看老板脸色，不用和同事虚与委蛇，不用......，反正就是可以每天睡到自然醒，好好休息，到处旅行，想干嘛就干嘛了呗？”这是我常听到的说法。
想得美！俗话说得好“理想是丰满的，现实是骨感的”。We always thought the other side of grass is greener（得不到的总是美好的），不是吗？我真的不是危言耸听。
事实是，退休后日子并不是只有一天，一个星期，一个月，或三个月。理论证明，退休后的人都会经历休假期，迷茫期，焦虑期，然后呢？大部分的人因为没有提早思考和计划，最后不是轮回到原来的工作的漩涡中继续卷，抑或是一路滑向暮年等死。只有有准备和有计划的人才能平稳地过渡到幸福的下一人生阶段。
人介五十，"不惑"并不是必然。真的能"不惑"的，仍旧需要懂得好好规划。问题是，怎么算是好好规划能呢？举个例子，家里双职工的，如果有一方对现有的工作不是那么热爱，甚至有些厌倦的话，契机来了，两人该一起下决心让这一方辞职从不喜欢的朝九晚五的牢笼里脱出来了，开始开放式思维，去观察和研究一些自己生活中真正有兴趣的事。这些事或许和原来的工作有些许交集，又或许完全不搭界。然后就是去一个个尝试啰。
