Regarding “Do What You Love.” I’m taking a long-term view to doing what I love. I’m making the most of my current profession in preparation for being able to do what I love when I retire from it. In my case, that’s because financial security at some level is critically important to me.

On a related subject, I’ve been fortunate in life. I don’t think anyone in my family has ever told me anything I’m planning to do or have done has been a “mistake.” For instance, I told them 25 years ago I would not be having children; they better accept dogs and cats as grandchildren. That was the end of the discussion. I’m certain that disappointed some members of my family, but I’ve never heard any more about it than one comment from my mom twenty years or so ago that if I wanted to be a parent, she thought I’d be a good one. It’s always been hard for me to believe some people have families that don’t respect their wishes, because mine always has. Therefore, it’s really only up to me to determine what’s been a mistake or not. I mention that in case my rationale for #5 didn’t make sense to someone. Of course, if I’d ever made a mistake of the proportions that required someone else to support me financially, I’m reasonably certain I would have heard about it. See paragraph 1 above.