<p>Even though he works hard at it after some 25 years, my H really emjoyes his work as a mathematics professor. The work style suits him as well.</p>
<p>For me, my family is most important at this stage in my life. I want my kids to have all the opportunities they can - and when they are all grown and started their own lives after college, we will consider it. Two in college, one in high school - so we have a while left to go before considering it.</p>
<p>Right now, we have to earn an income and save to actually retire. Of course, that would also be helpful to have a job…but in this climate, retirement seems a LONG way off.</p>
<p>Mantori and W in P–I agree with your comments on happiness. Have been trying to work toward simplifying in our lives for quite some time, now. definitely, security is important, and easier to get if you need less to feel secure. So much easier to pay off a small mortgage than a big one, and to be able to retire on less because you need less. WP–I think the idea of gratitude fits with this well–if you appreciate what you have, you’ll need less, hence be more secure.</p>
<p>It seems like every year our income goes down, because of choices H and I have made to keep sane, and every year we are indeed saner because of this.</p>
<p>As NSM says, I think the mindset of gratitude and enough-ness can be cultivated anywhere, even without the tropical beaches (the NJ beaches work fine for me. :)). Nevertheless, CR does sound like a wonderful, and *nationally *sane, place.</p>
<p>" Your home may be small, your food simple, and your future prospects limited, but if you feel assured that you won’t lose what you have, you can be happy"</p>
<p>I think that happiness is based on realizing that one eventually will lose everything that one has: one’s health, one’s looks, one’s friends, family, and life, so one should be appreciative of what one has while also realizing that it could be taken away at any time.</p>
<p>To me, the people who are the most miserable are those who are shocked to find out that they grow old, friends/family members die, jobs are loss, possessions are stolen and break, etc… Nothing is permanent . You can’t keep anything forever. The quicker one realizes this, the happier one will be.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, you sound like a Buddhist!</p>
<p>I love my work but I wish I enjoyed my day-to-day more. That’s what I meant by wanting to retire to a place like Costa Rica.</p>
<p>I love my profession and my job, but, unfortunately, an occasional a-hole infiltrating our team can put a serious damper on the joy of doing what I like.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because— philosophically speaking, the problem is wherever you go, there you are.</p>
<p>^Buckaroo Banzai?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or, as Janis Joplin put it, “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothing left to lose.’” I am totally down with that!</p>
<p>[Translation for the non-hip: I like it.]</p>
<p>I think they’re probably also happy because they sell rum & cola in cans there. Ticos are brilliant. Why hasn’t America been able to figure this idea out?!?</p>
<p>I love Costa Rica. My husband and I flew to San Jose, rented a 4WD, and escaped to Monteverde for a few days, and then Manuel Antonio for the rest of the week, after our wedding. If he hadn’t been there to do the stickshift driving and if I hadn’t been there to do the Spanish-speaking, I don’t think we would’ve made it. 
</p>
<p>Our instructions on whitewater rafting: hold on. If you fall out of the boat, float until the ocean and then just swim to the right for a while; you’ll get back to your hotel just fine.</p>
<p>[Se</a> venden pollos.](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/yayj38x]Se”>http://■■■■■■■.com/yayj38x)</p>
<p>“Northstarmom, you sound like a Buddhist!”</p>
<p>Because I am. :)</p>
<p>Like it or not, Costa Rica depends on American materialism:</p>
<p>The United States is Costa Rica’s most important trading partner. The U.S. accounts for almost half of Costa Rica’s exports, imports, and tourism, and more than two-thirds of its foreign investment.</p>
<p>The United States responded to Costa Rica’s economic needs in the 1980s with significant economic and development assistance programs. Through provision of more than $1.1 billion in assistance, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) supported Costa Rican efforts to stabilize its economy and broaden and accelerate economic growth through policy reforms and trade liberalization. Assistance initiatives in the 1990s concentrated on democratic policies, modernizing the administration of justice, and sustainable development.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm[/url]”>http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm</a></p>
<p><em>sigh</em>^^^
Nothing is ever simple and straightforward in this world.</p>
<p>
Except for tattoos!</p>
<p>After reading this thread, I think I might go visit Costa Rica some day.</p>