Never Retire: Why I’m Still Challenging My Own Thinking

Staying curious, open-minded, and excited

A few weeks ago, a subscriber pushed me to refocus on this newsletter's original Never Retire theme. Years ago, I might have resisted or dismissed the feedback. But now, at 50, I see things differently.

Seeing things differently has helped me connect the Never Retire philosophy more deeply to my move to Spain. This month’s installments explore that connection, focusing on how these ideas overlap—and how my experience might help inform yours, whether or not you plan to move abroad.

Two seemingly small work-related experiences illustrate this broad idea: staying curious and open-minded so you’re ready for challenges that aren’t small at all. The absolutely big ones that require you to muster the motivation and excitement to challenge yourself out of a comfortable or otherwise good situation.

Let’s tie it all together—from seemingly small to absolutely big—in a minute.

I thought about this yesterday afternoon while sitting at a cafe downstairs from our apartment, telling my wife how excited I am about all of the things we’ve got going.

In particular, Friki de Bici.

It feels great to be approaching 50 and starting something new that reconnects me with my longstanding passion for urban cycling, as my wife does likewise with her new career that moves forward fast next week when she joins a ceramics co-working space.

Together, we’re working on Friki de Bici merch, which I hope to launch—along with the Substack, website, and YouTube channel—by mid-April. I can’t wait to share everything with you. If you’d like to support the project’s launch and keep it free, please use the button below. Anything you can throw my way helps with the startup and ongoing maintenance costs.

I’m super excited to be working on this.

Walking around Valencia this week, I saw quite a few people wearing bicycle-related T-shirts. Is this a coincidence, or are we catching a vibe in this town—and other places like it?

My goal for Friki de Bici is to illustrate and reflect the wonderful bike cultures worldwide while highlighting cool bikes, the people who ride them and the shops that sell them. I will tie everything we do with this project back to what really is a mission statement.

Anyhow—

I wake up excited most mornings and stay that way through most days. And I think it’s because I focus hard on being curious and open-minded, having learned from people who have come before me. I watched them become stagnant and bitter as they aged rather than move in hot pursuit of new ideas and experiences to help keep them vibrant.

I refuse to do this.

Exactly how to do this isn’t all that difficult in theory. However, it’s hard in practice because once you reach a certain age, you tend to think you know more than you do. Or, if nothing else, you’re more set in your ways, resistant to new ideas that sometimes come from people much younger than you.

For example—