Turning What You Love into What You Do
By Patrick O’Connor
Five of the 16 Road Less Traveled (RLT) alums have retired since their stories appeared in AroundKent magazine. Two alums, Bill White and Kara Stewart Cea, are featured in this segment to offer a glimpse into their retirement lifestyles. Also, Tom Fulton is approaching retirement in spring 2022. A few thoughts about his upcoming plans are also included.

Bill White – Road Less Traveled (Vol. 17)
Bill White remains well known in Northeast Ohio for his long track record of success in sports and bowling. His retirement lifestyle focuses on his involvement in bowling, philanthropy and comfort dogs. He sold his last bowling alley at age 88. He remains on call for the current owners. He supports high school bowling in Portage County via six scholarships for high school bowlers. He and his wife, Edie, support the Dog Days of Summer festival in Kent to raise money for animal protection programs. They even sponsor the Strut Your Mutt parade named in their honor. They are also active with the Love on a Leash program at UH- Portage Medical Center where their five comfort dogs visit patients. Each day is a busy one for Bill.

Kara Stewart Cea – Road Less Traveled (Vol. 9)
Kara retired in 2019 from Akron University as a dance professor and administrator. After many years of performing, teaching and administering dance (mainly ballet), ArtSparks is her vehicle for guiding students to see the many positive aspects of being involved in dance. In many respects, her retirement is an extension of her dance career.
She is the executive director and founding artistic director of Artsparks, which offers dance and movement programs to elementary school students. ArtSparks brings joyful dance and music programming to students in grades K-5, students with disabilities and those with limited exposure to the arts. Detailed information on the organization is located at artsparksdance.org

Tom Fulton -Road Less Traveled (Vol. 13)
Tom Fulton is planning for and looking forward to retirement in May 2022. He has spent his life doing what he loves which is acting, directing and teaching. His retirement lifestyle will be one of mixing his various loves and interests into a harmonious balance.
He launched a second career (after 40 years) as a teacher, starting and directing the Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Center for the last 15 years. He is now auditioning for the next role in his life. He is eager to return to acting, directing and writing in theatre in Northeast Ohio.
He plans to maintain his connections with the theatre to be sure he doesn’t “veg out.” He observes there are a lot of old-man roles around but few old men to play them. He plans to land a some of those roles… “maybe a few in a rocking chair.” He and his wife also have plans for international travel as well as leisure time walks with their dogs on their 200-acre farm.
Encore Retirement Lifestyle
All three RLT alums have turned what they love into what they do in retirement. This is a goal all retirees and those preparing for retirement should set. It will enable them to live the encore retirement lifestyle.
A main difference between working and being retired is that you no longer get up, get dressed and go to work five or more days a week. Now you must fill your own time and structure your own day. That’s easy if you have a passion outside of work.
The Encore Retirement Lifestyle idea is twofold. First, continue the time associated with the things we enjoyed at work pre-retirement. Second, increase the time spent in the leisure activities we enjoy. In some ways, the aspects of our work we enjoyed, and our leisure time interests/ activities defined our quality of life. The goal is to merge these two to achieve maximum satisfaction and fulfillment in retirement.
Psychic Income
The three RLT alums featured here have merged their work and leisure lives together. They have leveraged their work experience into a smaller role that keeps them “in the game.” They have increased their time and energy doing things they have always loved. Now, they just have a little more time to do it.
They are maximizing their “psychic income” by doing the aspects of their work they enjoyed coupled with increased leisure time/activities. Psychic income is what we receive from doing something we love. It becomes more important when you’re happy to live on less to enjoy life more. Actually, it is the best type of income since there is no way to spend it; you can only save it!
Coming Up
The next segment will layout a process people can follow to turn what they love into what they do. It will be followed by specific examples of people using the process at different points on the career continuum. Stay tuned.
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