January 22, 2024 • 7 mins
In this special bonus episode Yasmin will share with you the concept of practicing retirement and how you can start discovering your joy and play the foundation for an intentional retirement journey, even if you're many years away. He will also share my family's story of coming to America and what led to this podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Yasmin (00:04):
Welcome to the Real Retirement Show.
My name is Yasmin and in thisspecial bonus episode I'll share
with you the concept ofpracticing retirement and how
you can start discovering yourjoy and play the foundation for
an intentional retirementjourney, even if you're many
years away.
I'll also share my family'sstory of coming to America and
(00:25):
what led to this podcast.
My family originally came toAmerica from Vietnam.
We were one of the boat peopleand we had to escape the country
and during the journey we wereseparated from my dad.
We were rescued at sea whileour boat sank, and I'll share
more of the story in a laterepisode.
Coming to America, it wasreally about adjusting to a big
(00:47):
change and most of my life I wasan achiever.
I remember going to school,making good grades, doing
everything I was supposed to,climbing the corporate ladder
and realizing that at the top ofthe ladder I was in the wrong
place and that set me down a twodecade journey to explore
entrepreneurship, which Ithought was going to be smooth
(01:10):
sailing until I really dove intoit, and it really hit me when I
reached burnout, and I was inthat moment that I decided to
finally take some time off formyself, and this was when I was
living in Portland, Oregon.
I had gone to the beach everyweek to create a little space
for myself, and that was when Iactually started to practice
(01:30):
this idea of retirement.
I called it my Retirement Daypractice, and that was seven
years ago.
Here's a clip from one of myretirement days.
Hi friends, welcome to thebeautiful Oregon Coast.
My name is Yasmin Nguyen andI'd like to invite you to join
me on my retirement day.
I've lived in Oregon for morethan 13 years now, and it's only
(01:53):
been the last couple years thatI've come out to really enjoy
this beautiful place.
I've been an entrepreneur for17 years now, and I found myself
, a couple years ago, completelyburnt out.
I remember this specific day.
It was in 2015.
I was sitting at my desk,barely able to stay awake,
because I've spent severalnights being up just working,
(02:15):
and working, and working, andthe reason why I was working was
because I was constantly sayingyes to everything.
I had a serious case of what I'dcall FOMO fear of missing out
and, as a result, I was justoverwhelmed with so much to do
and very little time for myself.
I found that I was getting sick.
I was tired all the time I wasin a bad mood, and one afternoon
(02:38):
, as I was sitting at my desk, Igot just so fed up and so
exhausted that I was like I'mdone, I cannot work another
minute.
And so that's when I went home,I've packed up my car, headed
out to the coast and I drove,and I drove, and I drove, and
finally, the minute that I gotout here, I just felt this
amazing calmness, thisgroundiness, this peace that I
(03:01):
had not felt for a long time,and at that moment I made a
commitment to myself to come outhere more frequently.
And then the following week Icame out here again.
Over the period of a year and ahalf, I've made it a practice to
come out to the coast over 52times.
Each time as I went out here, Inoticed that I got a sense of
(03:23):
clarity, I got a sense of spaceso that I could really discover
what was important to me, whatwas important in my life and
what was important in mybusiness.
And also, at the same time, Igot a chance to play.
My way of playing is to takepictures and to be able to
capture and witness that beautyin a special moment.
That's a gift of being out here.
(03:43):
And so each time that I sat outand enjoyed this day, I started
to call it my retirement ding,because typically I would come
out here on a Thursday orWednesday and that was when
people were at work and I got achance to just play and feel
what it's like if I was toretire.
And that's when I came up withthis concept of practicing
(04:06):
retirement.
When we think about retirement,it's something that we typically
defer into the distant future,when we have enough money, when
we have time, we're freeresponsibilities.
But the problem with that isthat we never know what's gonna
happen in between now and inthat particular future.
And so when we think about that, what happens when we get to
(04:26):
retirement?
We might get sick, we might nothave enough money, we might
have other obligations, or wemight get there and have no clue
what we wanted to do.
And so my idea and practice wasto include a day of retirement
every single week.
Now, this particular day issomething that I designated to
(04:48):
come to the coast, but I inviteyou to consider what would you
do on a day of retirement?
And if you were to practice inthis day of retirement each week
for a single year, you wouldhave had 52 days of retirement,
and so I invite you to considerthis concept of practicing
retirement, and, even if youcan't designate an entire day,
(05:11):
perhaps you could designatemaybe half a day of retirement
and have 21 days of retirementin one year.
Thank you for taking the timeto be here with me, and I wish
you all the best.
As I was practicing retirement,I realized that, with all the
(05:31):
success that I was trying tochase and all the things I was
supposed to do, that I losttouch with joy, and so that sent
me on a two-year road triparound the country to learn
about joy and to talk to peopleand bring people together and
discover what joy is.
And, as a result, I got a chanceto write this book called the
(05:53):
Game of Joy, and upon publishingit, I realized that there's
still something missing.
I've got this roadmap for joy,but it was clear to me that
there were people in our worldare struggling to find and
experience joy, and,specifically, I noticed that my
parents they are seniors intheir 80s, retired, and they've
(06:16):
been struggling to connect withjoy.
They've been feeling isolatedand lack of purpose, and that
was what made me curious, andthat was when I reached out to
you and talked to you about yourjourney, your experience,
kathleen, and that's when wedecided to venture on this
journey together to create thejoyful retirement project and,
in the process, research andlearn.
(06:38):
And then now, at a stage wherewe want to be able to share and
invite others to be on thisjourney with us through this
particular podcast.
Welcome to the Real Retirement Show.
My name is Yasmin and in thisspecial bonus episode I'll share
with you the concept ofpracticing retirement and how
you can start discovering yourjoy and play the foundation for
an intentional retirementjourney, even if you're many
years away.
I'll also share my family'sstory of coming to America and
(00:25):
what led to this podcast.
My family originally came toAmerica from Vietnam.
We were one of the boat peopleand we had to escape the country
and during the journey we wereseparated from my dad.
We were rescued at sea whileour boat sank, and I'll share
more of the story in a laterepisode.
Coming to America, it wasreally about adjusting to a big
(00:47):
change and most of my life I wasan achiever.
I remember going to school,making good grades, doing
everything I was supposed to,climbing the corporate ladder
and realizing that at the top ofthe ladder I was in the wrong
place and that set me down a twodecade journey to explore
entrepreneurship, which Ithought was going to be smooth
(01:10):
sailing until I really dove intoit, and it really hit me when I
reached burnout, and I was inthat moment that I decided to
finally take some time off formyself, and this was when I was
living in Portland, Oregon.
I had gone to the beach everyweek to create a little space
for myself, and that was when Iactually started to practice
(01:30):
this idea of retirement.
I called it my Retirement Daypractice, and that was seven
years ago.
Here's a clip from one of myretirement days.
Hi friends, welcome to thebeautiful Oregon Coast.
My name is Yasmin Nguyen andI'd like to invite you to join
me on my retirement day.
I've lived in Oregon for morethan 13 years now, and it's only
(01:53):
been the last couple years thatI've come out to really enjoy
this beautiful place.
I've been an entrepreneur for17 years now, and I found myself
, a couple years ago, completelyburnt out.
I remember this specific day.
It was in 2015.
I was sitting at my desk,barely able to stay awake,
because I've spent severalnights being up just working,
(02:15):
and working, and working, andthe reason why I was working was
because I was constantly sayingyes to everything.
I had a serious case of what I'dcall FOMO fear of missing out
and, as a result, I was justoverwhelmed with so much to do
and very little time for myself.
I found that I was getting sick.
I was tired all the time I wasin a bad mood, and one afternoon
(02:38):
, as I was sitting at my desk, Igot just so fed up and so
exhausted that I was like I'mdone, I cannot work another
minute.
And so that's when I went home,I've packed up my car, headed
out to the coast and I drove,and I drove, and I drove, and
finally, the minute that I gotout here, I just felt this
amazing calmness, thisgroundiness, this peace that I
(03:01):
had not felt for a long time,and at that moment I made a
commitment to myself to come outhere more frequently.
And then the following week Icame out here again.
Over the period of a year and ahalf, I've made it a practice to
come out to the coast over 52times.
Each time as I went out here, Inoticed that I got a sense of
(03:23):
clarity, I got a sense of spaceso that I could really discover
what was important to me, whatwas important in my life and
what was important in mybusiness.
And also, at the same time, Igot a chance to play.
My way of playing is to takepictures and to be able to
capture and witness that beautyin a special moment.
That's a gift of being out here.
(03:43):
And so each time that I sat outand enjoyed this day, I started
to call it my retirement ding,because typically I would come
out here on a Thursday orWednesday and that was when
people were at work and I got achance to just play and feel
what it's like if I was toretire.
And that's when I came up withthis concept of practicing
(04:06):
retirement.
When we think about retirement,it's something that we typically
defer into the distant future,when we have enough money, when
we have time, we're freeresponsibilities.
But the problem with that isthat we never know what's gonna
happen in between now and inthat particular future.
And so when we think about that, what happens when we get to
(04:26):
retirement?
We might get sick, we might nothave enough money, we might
have other obligations, or wemight get there and have no clue
what we wanted to do.
And so my idea and practice wasto include a day of retirement
every single week.
Now, this particular day issomething that I designated to
(04:48):
come to the coast, but I inviteyou to consider what would you
do on a day of retirement?
And if you were to practice inthis day of retirement each week
for a single year, you wouldhave had 52 days of retirement,
and so I invite you to considerthis concept of practicing
retirement, and, even if youcan't designate an entire day,
(05:11):
perhaps you could designatemaybe half a day of retirement
and have 21 days of retirementin one year.
Thank you for taking the timeto be here with me, and I wish
you all the best.
As I was practicing retirement,I realized that, with all the
(05:31):
success that I was trying tochase and all the things I was
supposed to do, that I losttouch with joy, and so that sent
me on a two-year road triparound the country to learn
about joy and to talk to peopleand bring people together and
discover what joy is.
And, as a result, I got a chanceto write this book called the
(05:53):
Game of Joy, and upon publishingit, I realized that there's
still something missing.
I've got this roadmap for joy,but it was clear to me that
there were people in our worldare struggling to find and
experience joy, and,specifically, I noticed that my
parents they are seniors intheir 80s, retired, and they've
(06:16):
been struggling to connect withjoy.
They've been feeling isolatedand lack of purpose, and that
was what made me curious, andthat was when I reached out to
you and talked to you about yourjourney, your experience,
kathleen, and that's when wedecided to venture on this
journey together to create thejoyful retirement project and,
in the process, research andlearn.
(06:38):
And then now, at a stage wherewe want to be able to share and
invite others to be on thisjourney with us through this
particular podcast.
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