In 2016 I retired from my small health and fitness business I ran for several years called Sara Di Felice - Inspiring Life. That photo above was the picture I used in the final email I sent to my clients. Thanking them for our wonderful years together.
I had a powerful intuitive nudge to retire. It seemed a bit ridiculous at the ripe age of 33, especially considering I had no pension, inheritance, nor enough savings to support myself to the end of my life.
- At the age of 27 I left my world traveling 9-5 corporate position with benefits. Also considered ridiculous to everyone around me.
I have been ridiculous most of my life. I have now finally accepted I'm just one of those humans here to disrupt the status quo. Not just for disruption's sake, but for the sake of my sanity.
I ended up following the illogical intuitive guidance to retire.
In this post, I'm sharing more of this story, the power of intuition, and a bit about how I feel retirement needs to be redefined for a new world slowly but surely revealing itself. I will share 3 valuable things I've learned in my retirement a little later on.
Straight after retiring, I lived in Chile for some months, I learned to speak a little Spanish which had been a dream of mine — to live in another country and learn a second language. I was blessed with the experience to teach sunset SUP yoga with my few words of Spanish, I traveled around South East Asia, met some really cool people, became a roving reporter for alternative healing modalities, had a go at my first broadcast network ( a passion of mine to redefine broadcasting and its practices), got divorced, sold my house, lived in a condo on the lake downtown Toronto where I had my second attempt at a broadcast network - this just a few months before the global pandemic put us into lockdown.
The timing of the new network launch, the lockdown, my recent divorce, and some other personal crises - I went into a big spin (me and most of the world right!). I didn't realize I had deep wounds related to stepping into a leadership role that was about disrupting the status quo in ways the world was now significantly mirroring back for its need. I heavily doubted who I was and if I had what it took.
At the same time I felt seen, validated, and sane perhaps for the first time in my life, as visionaries, the video and copy on our website had set my business partner and I up perfectly to be way-showers for the times we would be facing and I was faced with not actually being ready for it... at least not in the way I had expected.
I went into a cave, broke my ankle and took some serious regeneration time - I've shared that in other posts and videos. So I will leave that out of this post.
It's a powerful thing to be alone with your own energy, to find your unique rhythm - to grieve, play, create and uncover forgotten pieces of yourself. As a single, childless woman - I had plenty of time to explore what I liked and what I didn't. How I wanted to spend my time and with whom, and really discover who I am. I am just starting to get a glimpse of who that really is.
It turns out, my intuition to retire was a call to figure out who I really wanted to be when I grew up. As much as I enjoyed the work I was doing at that time, I knew I had to follow my intuition.
As a young woman, I had a lot of questions about why it was socially accepted that we waited until the final years of our life to retire and do what we actually want to do in life. I found it odd at an early age that we stash away hoards of money and live off that hopefully until we die, and hopefully with loved ones around to enjoy it. I found it nonsensical that we were meant to work tirelessly 9-5 each week, commute in rush hour, and wish away chunks of our time as we longed for the weekend, vacation - retirement.
As crazy as it all sounded to me as a young girl, the system sucked me in and I was right there in the rat race I swore I'd never be part of. At one point with 4 side hustles and a 2-hour commute to a full-time job.
Luckily I didn't last very long in the corporate world - 5 years and I called it quits. I decided to become a yoga instructor and try my hand at entrepreneurship with a Bootcamp franchise I signed on for. I worked way fewer hours, got paid way less, consumed way less, and became way happier.
Instead of living the typical life I was programmed to believe was 'the best'- a job with travel and benefits, come on now! - I dared to play by my own rules. Instead of waiting to relax and do what I loved when I was 60, I figured I'd take the time to learn what that was now, and trust I'd be able to support myself in doing what I loved until the day I die, and never 'work' a day again. (I'm not suggesting we do not need to earn a living here, but that it can become a joy, as oppose to 'work' when we are aligned with doing something we truly love.)
The trouble was, even though I left that structure to do my own thing at 27, my mind was still programmed from the old world. I made changes to my outside world, but my inner world was hard-wired to guilt & grind. I had a lot of unraveling and defragging to do!
I have acquired some very valuable lessons since retiring. When we wait until our later years of life to do what we want with our time, we risk a few things:
1) we might not be able to relax and enjoy retirement. Just because we have more time, doesn't mean we are automatically awarded health and the ability to relax. Peace takes practice, health takes peace.
2) we might actually have no idea what we really love and how or who we actually want to spend our time with. Just because we stop doing what we don't love, doesn't mean we are automatically guaranteed to find what we do love, or whom to spend that time with. That takes courage, curiosity, and expansion.
3) our health suffers if we spend too much time out of alignment. Just because we feel like we can push and grit through things when we are young, doesn't mean we have the same stamina and recovery capacity when we are older.
In hindsight, I can see my intuition was guiding me to 'retire' early to practice relaxation & peace and figure out those things that seemed really important for me to understand as early as possible. It was my belief that once I practiced peace, figured out who I was and what I really wanted to do with my time — I wouldn't actually need to retire in the way that was defined by the old system, AND I wouldn't want to!
I discovered that it's not about 'doing' what you love, but being someone you truly love.
I believe retirement can happen at any age, and it's actually a period of time you take to re-examine your values, regenerate (defrag), and reboot your system for a new operating system (structure). Our structure informs our behaviour. It's the old world's current structure collapse that has deeply validated what my intuition was telling me all those years ago to retire at 33, and leave the corporate climbing burnout ladder I was on track for at age 27.
I have such a respect for the power of our intuition and our ability to respond and say yes to that which appears illogical and ridiculous. I think the world needs more of this!
I was being guided and primed to be part of the creation of a vision and structure for the new world and show a new way is possible.
I believe each one of us has a rich history (however painful) that is fertile ground for a rich blossoming in a new world, so long as we are brave enough to look for it and consider it might not be what we expect!
As I stated earlier, the past couple of years navigating the wake of the pandemic has afforded me epic cocoon time, and go face to face with some monsters in my closet. As I begin to slowly emerge from the dust, I am more passionate than ever to share my vision, story, and videos with those who are looking to be inspired to share their stories and visions and connect with those looking to co-create new ways of being.
Your best investment is in yourself.
The best investment is understanding how your intuition speaks to you and that it's always guiding you on your unique path and aligning you to co-create a better future for yourself and the generations to come.
The structure of the new world starts inside each one of us. Investing time to make it a priority to really deeply love ourselves (even the monsters) and know our true value & values. We must make it a priority to rest and regenerate and act on the things that bring us joy and peace in this short but sweet life.
In the old world, we were made to believe that one path fit many. The new world honours the fact that every single path is unique, sacred, and important. We must have the freedom, time, and grace to determine our own path and live it full out.
I believe we all have a story and vision that can literally become someone else's survival guide.
As that new popular saying going around the internet says - healed people, heal people.
When we feel whole and in love with life, even in our old age we will still want to be engaged in being of service in our world. I'm seeing this more and more, the 70 year old comedian speaking on stages about human potential or the 65 year old working with her daughter selling handmade soaps.
The world is full of so much opportunity for us each one of us to find our unique and prosperous expression in the world!
If you are looking for support navigating this transition from the old to the new, the first program created at Flow Network is a multi-chapter series called 'The Hero's Journey', the first chapter is free. We also have over 100 free videos in our library that document the evolution of Flow Network before and through the pandemic.
If you found this blog interesting I recommend you check out 'The Real Wealth Transfer' - The foundation of 'The Big 3' Docu-Series on Flow Network. A conversation between my Business partner( Boomer) and myself (Millenial) Co-Founders of FlowNetwork.ca.
If you would like 1:1 support in sharing your vision, story or heart-centered business send me an email and or check out my MarkeTelling TM - Service.
Thanks for taking the time to read my story, I hope it inspired you or brought you some value.
much love,
Sara@FlowNetwork.ca