What Do You Want Me To Write About As My Life And This Newsletter Moves To Spain?
Growing and evolving the Never Retire: Living The Semi-Retired Life newsletter
In less than three months, this newsletter will finally broadcast from Spain!
No. Puedo. Esperar.
In the interest of this evolution in my life as it enters its second act on the road to 100, two things. And I’d really love your response on both.
First, if you haven’t already, consider upgrading to a founding membership if you pay monthly or annually. For $100, you’re comped for life. Not only is this the best value, it’s the best way to ensure we build a sustainable community.
If you’re free, upgrade today. Every six months or so, I purge my list of free subscribers who haven’t engaged in more than a year.
Second, because it’s no doubt that Substack can be a tough nut to crack, I want to ensure that the themes I cover in this newsletter will contribute to building and maintaining this sustainable community. My wife and I will change our lives in a big way when we head to Spain on January 2nd. It’s (already) an exciting time. So I want to start laying the groundwork now as to hit the ground running in 2025 and make this newsletter better than ever.
All of this said, feel free to reply to this email OR leave a comment with your thoughts.
Also—or alternatively—please consider participating in the following survey questions, which are open to ALL subscribers. You’ll be completely anonymous. And you’ll help guide what I write about as we close out 2024 and once we’re living life—day-to-day—in Spain.
If you have a second choice or are split between two, leave #2 in the comments below.
To illustrate—though only slightly favor—the last choice.
I have an idea to look back on things I wrote and said in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and compare them to the reality we experience—on the ground, in Spain—in 2025 and beyond. Of course, it would be wider than this, but the general idea is to compare hopes and expectations with reality. To provide a real view of how the day-to-day actually feels and functions compared with what we anticipated.
On this question—
As I noted previously, I want to try to talk to people—particularly Spaniards and maybe some foreigners—to uncover the reality of what’s happening there when it comes to tourism, tradition and immigration. But this process likely can’t fully take shape until I get a solid handle on Spanish.
But what if I didn’t wait?
What if I found people who seem cool—I have already spotted several online—who might be willing to engage with me as I’m learning the language. You’ll be able to see this clumsy process unfold—which will help me drop the fear of making mistakes—and we’ll all learn something in the process.
As I imagine what this could look like, it scares and excites me simultaneously!
We’re moving, in large part, to remain mentally and physically engaged as we enter the second act of our lives. Part of this involves the evolution of what we do for work. While my wife is a few years younger than me, her transition is much more meaningful. Or, at least, bigger.
She will maintain co-ownership of a salon in Los Angeles, but focus on art in Spain. Below, see her first shot at ceramics, derived from her original design.
I think she has a future! ¡Pienso que tiene un futuro!
What I am seeing here is two distinct tracks:
*More focus on the original impetus of the newsletter. The idea of Never Retiring as to combat the soullessness of (much of) American life, place and culture.
*On-the-ground reporting from Spain, both generally as live gets lived and, specifically on how it comes together to get lived.
If I am correct, I think I can provide a good, better focused mix of both.
I’m excited to see more of the day to day stuff; what getting around is like, where you finally end up living, how the apartment hunting goes, What a “day in in the life” looks like once things settle down a bit, etc. The pics you’ve been sharing so far have been great.