When I first started working for a big company in the city of London I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not only did I enjoy the challenge of the job and there were lots of them, but I actually thrived on the thrills and excitement of working in the city.
When my children were still young and combining a demanding job with running a home, should have been difficult, I was too busy to even notice.
However as the years went by and the children left home for university, life may have become easier but it had lost the stimulus.
On Sunday afternoons I started dreading going to work on Monday morning and the team brief where I was supposed to encourage and motivate my "team".
I had become very cynical but still paid lip service to the principles of good management.
Eventually I realized that I could not spend the rest of my life in this fashion.
My husband had already been made redundant and could not find another position, so what could we do? What we did was give up everything and move to Southern Spain.
Easily said but it took considerable planning.
The biggest risk was deciding if we would have enough to live on if we drew down on our pensions as soon as I was fifty, but after being boringly sensible and careful all our lives (we were both accountants), it was time to start taking risks.
It seemed so out of character for my husband that when I spoke of our plan to his brother-in-law, he laughed in my face and said that Steve, my husband, would never go.
The next risk was selling the house and using the proceeds to buy something in Spain.
However the first great reward was walking out of the office knowing that whatever happened I would not be going back there.
Just 10 days after I walked away from my job, we moved out of our house, watched the furniture van taking most of our belongings into storage and set off on the long drive to Southern Spain.
We had decided to make a holiday of the journey as this was likely to be our last one and so took 2 weeks limiting the driving to a few hours each day.
I was particularly delighted by the fact that Chartre which I had last visited nearly 30 years earlier was as impressive as I remembered it.
By the time we were on the final stretch of our journey I had had enough of traveling and beginning to feel a little apprehensive about whether I would like the house we were going to rent for 6 months.
Fortunately I had nothing to worry about and the charming townhouse we rented in Competa was ideal, even though because of the narrow streets we had to park the car a long way from the house.
Competa is a quaint white town nestling in the foothills of the Sierra Almijara and has steep cobbled steps and tall white buildings with balconies bursting with flowers.
Our house was on 4 floors with lots of steep steps and 2 large terraces with amazing views.
We had been to Competa before for a week's holiday, but now we were here for 6 months and the thought was truly wonderful.
After all those years leaping out of bed and rushing for the 7.
03 for Cannon St, now I could listen to the chimes of the church in the main square and decide when I wanted to get up.
The other pleasure was to be able to say I will sit out in the sun and read a good book.
As well as relaxing in the sun we also had to find a house to buy and make our permanent home.
Eventually after 6 fabulous months in Competa we moved into an end terrace house in the tiny village of Daimalos which is about 30 mins drive from Competa.
Although we enjoyed our time in Competa we had discovered we would not want to live there permanently as the noise of the scooters/ mopeds and such were very irritating.
There are a lot of English people in this area but most live in villas in the countryside.
However as we didn't want to spend too much of our capital we could not afford one of these, but our village house gave us peace and quiet, 4 bedrooms and beautiful bougainvilleas.
All we had to do now was enjoy it.
Well we certainly did enjoy ourselves.
I can think of very few things which are better than waking up and think "What shall I do today?" One of the first things I started to do was walk.
In the last few years at work my figure had become decidedly middle aged, but I never seemed to have the time or the energy, to organize going on a diet.
I found a circular walk around the village which began with a steep climb up to a ridge from where there are stunning views.
The first time I climbed up the ridge and saw the mountain which I later learned was called La Maroma and was 2065ms high, was one of the most breathtaking moments of my life.
My walk around the village became a regular routine and I gradually got fitter and slimmer! At first the walk took an hour and a half and I used to come back exhausted.
Now I can do it in 45mins and find it quite easy and instead of being an exercise routine, I enjoy it.
As my morning walk became easier I started walking further.
This area of Southern Spain is called Axarquia and has a large national park which has lots of tracks and paths cutting across it.
I soon discovered that I found tremendous pleasure setting off on my own with rucksack etc and walking the tracks.
The maps of Axarquia are very poor, so I started creating my own routes; so that I could do the same walk another day.
The countryside is stunning with steep mountains and views of the sea.
Also I found I could walk for several hours without seeing another person.
Many of our friends and children have been to visit and everyone was surprised by my new hobby but several asked me to take them for a walk.
This turned out to be very successful and most wanted me to take them for another walk when they came again.
So I then wondered if I could organize walking holidays and since then have spent the last few years developing this idea.
It has taken a lot of time, but that is something I now have plenty of and of course it is my choice how I spend it.
After considerable mistakes and problems I now have a good number of future bookings and lots of new friends who were delighted with their walking holiday.
All I originally wanted to do was give up work, but now I work when I want to and do something I really enjoy.
Now people can understand when I say life begins again at 50.
Not only did I enjoy the challenge of the job and there were lots of them, but I actually thrived on the thrills and excitement of working in the city.
When my children were still young and combining a demanding job with running a home, should have been difficult, I was too busy to even notice.
However as the years went by and the children left home for university, life may have become easier but it had lost the stimulus.
On Sunday afternoons I started dreading going to work on Monday morning and the team brief where I was supposed to encourage and motivate my "team".
I had become very cynical but still paid lip service to the principles of good management.
Eventually I realized that I could not spend the rest of my life in this fashion.
My husband had already been made redundant and could not find another position, so what could we do? What we did was give up everything and move to Southern Spain.
Easily said but it took considerable planning.
The biggest risk was deciding if we would have enough to live on if we drew down on our pensions as soon as I was fifty, but after being boringly sensible and careful all our lives (we were both accountants), it was time to start taking risks.
It seemed so out of character for my husband that when I spoke of our plan to his brother-in-law, he laughed in my face and said that Steve, my husband, would never go.
The next risk was selling the house and using the proceeds to buy something in Spain.
However the first great reward was walking out of the office knowing that whatever happened I would not be going back there.
Just 10 days after I walked away from my job, we moved out of our house, watched the furniture van taking most of our belongings into storage and set off on the long drive to Southern Spain.
We had decided to make a holiday of the journey as this was likely to be our last one and so took 2 weeks limiting the driving to a few hours each day.
I was particularly delighted by the fact that Chartre which I had last visited nearly 30 years earlier was as impressive as I remembered it.
By the time we were on the final stretch of our journey I had had enough of traveling and beginning to feel a little apprehensive about whether I would like the house we were going to rent for 6 months.
Fortunately I had nothing to worry about and the charming townhouse we rented in Competa was ideal, even though because of the narrow streets we had to park the car a long way from the house.
Competa is a quaint white town nestling in the foothills of the Sierra Almijara and has steep cobbled steps and tall white buildings with balconies bursting with flowers.
Our house was on 4 floors with lots of steep steps and 2 large terraces with amazing views.
We had been to Competa before for a week's holiday, but now we were here for 6 months and the thought was truly wonderful.
After all those years leaping out of bed and rushing for the 7.
03 for Cannon St, now I could listen to the chimes of the church in the main square and decide when I wanted to get up.
The other pleasure was to be able to say I will sit out in the sun and read a good book.
As well as relaxing in the sun we also had to find a house to buy and make our permanent home.
Eventually after 6 fabulous months in Competa we moved into an end terrace house in the tiny village of Daimalos which is about 30 mins drive from Competa.
Although we enjoyed our time in Competa we had discovered we would not want to live there permanently as the noise of the scooters/ mopeds and such were very irritating.
There are a lot of English people in this area but most live in villas in the countryside.
However as we didn't want to spend too much of our capital we could not afford one of these, but our village house gave us peace and quiet, 4 bedrooms and beautiful bougainvilleas.
All we had to do now was enjoy it.
Well we certainly did enjoy ourselves.
I can think of very few things which are better than waking up and think "What shall I do today?" One of the first things I started to do was walk.
In the last few years at work my figure had become decidedly middle aged, but I never seemed to have the time or the energy, to organize going on a diet.
I found a circular walk around the village which began with a steep climb up to a ridge from where there are stunning views.
The first time I climbed up the ridge and saw the mountain which I later learned was called La Maroma and was 2065ms high, was one of the most breathtaking moments of my life.
My walk around the village became a regular routine and I gradually got fitter and slimmer! At first the walk took an hour and a half and I used to come back exhausted.
Now I can do it in 45mins and find it quite easy and instead of being an exercise routine, I enjoy it.
As my morning walk became easier I started walking further.
This area of Southern Spain is called Axarquia and has a large national park which has lots of tracks and paths cutting across it.
I soon discovered that I found tremendous pleasure setting off on my own with rucksack etc and walking the tracks.
The maps of Axarquia are very poor, so I started creating my own routes; so that I could do the same walk another day.
The countryside is stunning with steep mountains and views of the sea.
Also I found I could walk for several hours without seeing another person.
Many of our friends and children have been to visit and everyone was surprised by my new hobby but several asked me to take them for a walk.
This turned out to be very successful and most wanted me to take them for another walk when they came again.
So I then wondered if I could organize walking holidays and since then have spent the last few years developing this idea.
It has taken a lot of time, but that is something I now have plenty of and of course it is my choice how I spend it.
After considerable mistakes and problems I now have a good number of future bookings and lots of new friends who were delighted with their walking holiday.
All I originally wanted to do was give up work, but now I work when I want to and do something I really enjoy.
Now people can understand when I say life begins again at 50.
Source...