As I get older (I’ll be 54 next month) I am, more frequently than I care to admit, thinking about the rest of my life. Like most on the planet, I do not know how long that will be. But if genetics have any influence, I should be still writing to you when I’m 80, albeit a bit more slowly.
With that as my operating model, I’ve a lot of living to do in the intervening 26 years. As much as it is possible, I’d like to do it my way.
This post is about how I’m structuring my life in order to live out my dream of a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle on my own terms.
Places
I now live in Rio Del Mar, California -a sleepy little beach town- about 80 miles south of San Francisco. Although there is nothing that urges me to relocate, my favored locale is the City itself. I attended medical school in San Francisco and, as Tony Bennett reminds us in song, I, too, left my heart in the city by the bay. I can see myself living there again, alone, in a simple condominium looking out over the San Francisco Bay.
I could also be very happy living in a cottage in Southern England or Northern Italy for that matter. The locale really doesn’t matter as much as the lifestyle. Of course I would love to be near my children and grand-kids, but they are scattered far from one another even at present. Besides, that’s what planes are for. 
At present, I’m discarding more and more stuff in my house. I like living in a minimalist manner because it feels right to me. No crap, no clutter, no knick-knacks. That’s my motto. When I move to one of these places, I will take very little with me.
Livelihood
I’m a writer and I don’t see that ever changing. Even if my hands and fingers continue to become arthritic, I will still create in the written medium. It’s my destiny; my fate; my source code. I have no desire to re-enter medicine. I might accept a part-time position of some kind if it really added to the quality of my life. Teaching is one activity that comes to mind. I’ve been a teacher in the past and it is one environment in which I thrive. But writing is my first and only love.
At present, I’m actively engaged in creating an environment where I can write and publish daily, earn my living doing so, and keep serving the small army of devoted readers that want to keep hearing from me. There is free content as well as paid premium content in this mix. In my mind, spending the rest of my life writing for my dinner is one way of blurring the line between work and play.
What could be better than blurring the line between work and play for the rest of my life?
Daily Life
My future-life is simple. I walk in the morning and at midday. I walk about 3-5 miles total; it’s not much but it keeps my mood in check and my thighs far from flabby. I walk in the countryside, in nature, and along the coast. I’m not much of a cyclist having decided that, for some reason, modern bicycle seat designs are no longer compatible to my own. I’m not a runner but I have tried to be one. I can sprint, but jogging and running are just not in my genes. I engage in simple fitness routines that include push-ups, stretching, upper and lower body strength training. I enjoy the flexibility that yoga helps me maintain.
I cook fresh vegetables and eat little read meat or poultry. I enjoy seafood and regularly drink my meals using my Vitamix. I’ve convinced that my body can actually heal itself and maintain better internal balance if I consume fresh, raw fruit and veggies more often than anything else. My indulgence in the world’s finest coffees continues.
At present, I do most of the above already. I walk twice a day, I do simple fitness routines, but I’m not doing yoga often. It’s hit or miss right now. Actually, more miss than hit. But I’m working on changing that. I try new coffees (just today I sampled a Panamanian blend that was smooth and full-bodied). I don’t yet have a Vitamix and can’t, at this moment even barely justify spending $400 on a blender, but I do believe I will purchase one at some point. The benefits far outweigh the short-term guilt over the cost. I am consciously shopping at local markets that only carry locally grown produce. I can taste the difference in what’s grown locally v. that grown elsewhere and whipped across the globe. Do I really need to eat apples from Chile when Gizdich Ranch Orchard is 10 miles from my house? I’m consuming less animal fat these days and have grown to love legumes as a constant source of protein. I’m feeling better and healthier as well.
Family & Love
I’m single and though I rule out ever getting married again, I do love my life as it is. I’ve been married twice and though there could come a day when I’d prefer to share my time with another on a daily basis, at present it feels in my heart that those days are behind me. I am in a place now where I am thriving in my present state of being single. That doesn’t mean I party and sleep around. No, not at all. I simply and getting used to the companionship of the self, my friends, and my canine-American. My 15 year-old is a constant companion these days, but in the future he, too, will be making his way in the world just as his older siblings are.
I don’t worry about this. It isn’t worth it. I am content; I am happy; and I will be in the future as well. 
