Living Your Dream Life

This past year was one of change for me. My youngest left for college, which was exciting, but it was also disorienting and a little bit sad for me as a parent. I sensed a profound shift that left me questioning my purpose and re-evaluating my plans for the future. I thought about my parents who both had a hard time adjusting to being empty nesters, especially after retirement, which is normal and natural to a certain extent. Retirement is now on the horizon for me too. I believe everyone needs some kind of purpose beyond career and child-rearing, if for nothing else but staving off decline. I found myself asking: what will be my second act?  

I’m not a big fan of self-help books, but over the years I’ve had two or three books that have helped me. My most recent find is a book called The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life by Sahil Bloom (Ballantine, 2025). I listened to it after downloading it on the Libby app through the library. It spoke to me so much that I ordered the hardcover book and have been marking it up. 

Bloom begins the book by telling a story about meeting up with a friend. His friend, who’d been dealing with a sick parent, asked him how often he saw his own parents. Bloom told him he saw them maybe once a year—he lived in California and his parents were on the East Coast. After asking how old Bloom’s parents were (sixty-one), his friend did the math and announced that Bloom would see his parents fifteen more times before they died.     

Mic drop. 

This resonated with me in a profound way. The average life expectancy for American women is eighty-one, which means I’ve entered the final third stage of my life. The prospect of death doesn’t scare me, but it does make me pause more and think about how I want to spend these last years. Time has suddenly become more precious. How do I make the most of it? How do I design my dream life? By acquiring wealth—but not the kind that comes in green bills. 

According to Bloom, we’ve been measuring success in life by the wrong thing—money. I think most people understand that money can’t buy happiness. Actually, it can, but only for people whose basic needs aren’t currently being met. Once you reach a comfortable place, acquiring more money does not increase happiness. And it’s not that money isn’t an important thing. It just can’t be the only thing.  

So Bloom has developed a new measure for wealth called The Wealth Score. The Wealth Score measures five pillars: time wealth, social wealth, mental wealth, physical wealth, and financial wealth. 

I took the online quiz and my results weren’t all that surprising. I feel the time crunch. There are never enough hours in the day. I’m always busy and always tired. I’ve made progress on my physical wealth. I’ve stepped up my exercise routine and dropped 35 pounds, but many times I find myself going to the gym at 10 p.m. (or later!), which I realize is crazy, but because my physical health is a priority, I do it. Obviously, this gets me to bed way too late. It’s a vicious cycle—a problem I plan to tackle over the next few months.  

Then there is a book I’ve been writing for the past ten years, maybe more. I rarely make it a priority, working on it in fits and starts. Yet I spend a ridiculous amount of time watching mind-numbing TV and scrolling through stupid videos on my phone. This too has to change. 

Do you feel the call to reshape your life? I hope you’ll join me on this journey. The 5 Types of Wealth is available through the library. Check it out and read it. If it speaks to you, buy yourself a copy and take this journey with me. Let’s help keep each other accountable. I’m willing to start a discussion group that meets in person at Peachtree City Library, sharing tips and tricks. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, send me an email at [email protected]