I sat thinking about what I should write in this week’s blog when Ed approached me with an idea.

“Why don’t you write about some common myths that have turned out to not be true in our lives,” he said.

“What myths are you referring to?” I asked.

“If you have more than one home, you’ll travel less because you’ll feel like you have to be in the second home whenever you’re not in the first,” he said. “And…you will learn less and live less fully after you retire than during the younger, working years of your life.”

I thought about this.

It was true. We have two homes and probably travel internationally much more than most of our friends. And life after retirement has been rich and varied and full of learning opportunities.

But…

“I don’t want to write about that. It feels like I’m bragging,” I said. “I feel much more comfortable talking about my shortcomings and how we might all learn from them.”

“I’d personally love to learn from someone who’s done something really well,” Ed said. “What can you say about these myths that might help people make them untrue in their own lives?”

Why does having two homes not impede our international travel, I thought. We do love to be at home, in both of them. And we love the two communities we are a part of. But we also love to travel. So we do both.
Was it really as simple as refusing to see them as mutually exclusive?

And why do Ed and I feel like we are living life more fully and learning more after retirement than we did during our more youthful working years?  We have become seriously engaged in two new sets of activities since retiring from our careers, writing literary nonfiction and playing tai chi. Both provide myriad learning opportunities on nearly a daily basis.
Was it really as simple as refusing to believe we should slow down?

I’m not sure any of the above is useful to you. But I can tell you for a fact that both of the myths above are just that. Myths.

Do you know of any common myths that you have not accepted as truth in your life that you’re willing to share with us?