We retired early from our jobs in oil and gas to travel. Starting over again in new places has been terrifying.
Last year, Kelly Benthall, now 54, and her husband quit their jobs and retired early to travel the world.
She found the idea of starting over again in new places terrifying.
Learning how to manage fear made it doable.
Last year, at 53, my husband and I quit our jobs in oil and gas and retired early to travel the world. Many friends assumed we were fearless — that anyone who leaves behind home, routines, and everything familiar must be chasing adventure
The truth? I'm not fearless. I'm a total scaredy-cat.
I didn't grow up traveling. We didn't hop on planes or dream about faraway places. Our family vacations were road trips to Ohio to visit relatives — reliable, predictable, safe. Most of my family still doesn't have a passport.
If you'd asked me in my 20s whether I'd ever sell everything and move from country to country, I would've shaken my head no, probably while breaking out in a cold sweat. It sounded terrifying.
Turns out, it is terrifying sometimes. And I do it anyway.
For years, I built my life around managing risk. Raising kids, climbing the corporate ladder, and running my own consulting business all required careful planning and staying one step ahead.
But nothing prepared me for the emotional risk of walking away from that life.
The moment my husband, Nigel, and I got serious about early retirement, the what-ifs flooded in: What if we ran out of money? What if something happened to our kids or grandkids while we're gone? What if we hated it?
I've spent my life tuned in to everyone else: clients, kids, even my husband. Somewhere along the way, my empathy turned into a constant state of alert. I was always scanning for what might go wrong.
The idea of giving up control, dropping into unfamiliar places, and starting over again felt like a nightmare wrapped in an Instagram filter.
Learning that I didn't have to be fearless and just needed a plan for the fear changed everything.
I discovered fear-setting in 2022, and it's the single most useful tool I've carried into this chapter of life. Instead of setting goals, you define the nightmare. Then you ask three questions:
How could I prevent it?
What would I do if it happened?
What's the cost of doing nothing?
That last one stopped me cold: What would it cost us to stay stuck, too scared to try?
It turns out I'd been using versions of fear-setting long before I even knew what to call them. I used them to calm my son after watching Hurricane Katrina coverage, walking him through every worst-case scenario. Later, I relied on them to manage my own spirals over work deadlines, breaking fear into manageable pieces.
Fear-setting works at any age — and for almost anything.
It's simpler than it sounds. You don't need a course or a coach. You just need a pen, a few quiet minutes, and the willingness to name what's scaring you out loud.
I start by writing the absolute worst-case scenario at the top of the page, even if it feels dramatic. Then, I answer the three questions honestly. I learned that getting honest about the worst case doesn't make it more likely, it makes it less terrifying.
Even now, after a year of traveling, every time we step off a plane into a new place, I still get anxious: Will I find my way back? Will I belong here?
It's rarely the big things. It's the tiny moments of unfamiliarity. It's the ones no amount of planning or money can solve. Where's the grocery store? Did we pick the wrong Airbnb? Will I meet anyone here, or will I feel completely alone?
I'm not fearless. I'm not naturally adventurous. I'm just someone who finally got tired of letting fear drive every decision.
Fear-setting gave me a way to name the scary stuff, stare it down, and ask: Is this really going to stop me?
If there's one thing I wish people understood, it's this: You're not supposed to feel ready. You don't need to wait until the fear goes away.
You just need to know that fear is part of the deal — and that you're capable of walking through it.
It has been through managing fear — instead of waiting for it to disappear — that I've changed everything.
And that's the real adventure.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why These Market Forecasters Expect Stocks To End the Year at Record Highs
Deutsche Bank analysts led by Chief US Equity & Global Strategist Binky Chadha on Tuesday raised their year-end S&P 500 target to 6,550. That suggests about 10% upside from Tuesday's close. And it would be nearly 7% above the index's record close from earlier this year. Investor positioning, they said, is close to neutral and assumes tariffs will be a slight drag on earnings growth this Wall Street forecasters see stocks closing out 2025 at record highs—despite a shaky start to the year. Deutsche Bank analysts led by Chief US Equity & Global Strategist Binky Chadha on Tuesday raised their year-end S&P 500 target to 6,550, a number suggesting about 10% upside from Tuesday's close. That would be nearly 7% above the index's record close from earlier this year. Investor positioning, they said, is close to neutral and assumes tariffs will be a slight drag on earnings growth this year. 'However, if there is confidence that tariff impacts will be modest and temporary, we expect discretionary investors to look through any slowing in growth and turn overweight in anticipation of a rebound,' they wrote. The analysts expect robust corporate demand to shrink the supply of stock on public markets. They forecast companies will spend $1.1 trillion on stock buybacks this year, thanks to resilient earnings. Deutsche Bank raised its estimate of the S&P 500's aggregate full-year earnings per share to $267 from $240. The firm entered the year forecasting index-level earnings of $282 per share. But it slashed that outlook in mid-April shortly after President Trump paused 'Liberation Day' tariffs for 90 days and lifted rates on Chinese goods to 145% at a minimum. Earnings, they estimated, would suffer from a prohibitively high effective tariff rate and the lingering possibility of a prolonged trade war. The outlook improved last month when the U.S. and China agreed to slash their respective tariff rates while officials negotiated a more comprehensive trade deal. Tensions between the world's two largest economies linger: This weekend each party accusing the other of violating their tentative agreement. Still, the White House's approach to tariff negotiations has some market watchers feeling optimistic. Deutsche Bank's analysts take the White House's decision to pause 'Liberation Day' tariffs just hours after they took effect, 'before the emergence of any legal barriers or economic or political pain,' as a sign that 'if negative impacts of tariffs do materialize, we will get further relents.' As such, Deutsche Bank expects this year's rally to 6,550 to benefit investors who bet on Trump relenting. 'Despite the rhetoric to the contrary, the 2018-2019 dynamic of repeated cycles of escalation and de-escalation predicated on the market looks to be alive and well.' Read the original article on Investopedia
Forbes
24 minutes ago
- Forbes
Billion-Dollar Breakthroughs: Inside The Global Race To Extend Human Healthspan
Hevolution CEO Dr. Mehmood Khan in conversation with GSK Chair Sir Jonathan Symonds In a luxurious conference center buzzing with Nobel laureates, biotech executives and Saudi royalty, one number kept surfacing during presentations: eight billion. Not dollars—though investment figures approached that scale—but people. The potential market for healthspan technologies encompasses every human on earth, creating what might be the ultimate investment opportunity of the 21st century. At the Hevolution Global Healthspan Summit 2025, the world's largest gathering for healthspan science, the discussion wasn't if humans could live longer, healthier lives, but how quickly we could make it happen. "I'm a firm believer, when you put several hundred scientists collectively working in a connected manner in the world, not in any one country, but in the world, from the west to the east, to solve a common challenge, that is how you put a man on the moon," declared Dr. Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution. "That is your moonshot." Hevolution is a first of its kind global non-profit organization incentivizing independent research and entrepreneurship in the emerging field of healthspan science. The urgency behind this global mobilization is clear. Dr. Anshu Banerjee, Director at the World Health Organization, presented sobering statistics: "The number of older people above 60 is going to double by 2050, from 1.1 billion to 2.1 billion, and soon we'll have more people above 60 than under 10." Even more concerning: "Life expectancy is increasing, but healthspan is actually worsening. The increase in healthy life expectancy is not following the same pace as life expectancy overall." Global Lifespan versus Global Healthspan Women face particular challenges in this equation. While they "live longer than men," Banerjee noted they "spend more years in poor health," with the healthspan gap between genders widening since 2002. While American researchers navigate the FDA's complex pathway, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as the global accelerator for healthspan innovations. His Excellency, addressing attendees, detailed the kingdom's "Innovation Pathways" designed for rapid approval of promising medicines, AI systems, and medical devices. This regulatory agility represents a strategic advantage in what has become a geopolitical race to commercialize healthspan technologies. With "maturity level four" recognition from the WHO and pending "world listed Authority" status, Saudi Arabia is creating an ecosystem where longevity science can flourish without traditional regulatory bottlenecks. The summit's scientific presentations ventured far beyond traditional human-centered research. Comparative biology—studying extraordinarily long-lived species like bowhead whales that can live over 200 years—emerged as a frontier with untapped potential. "These are models of disease resistance, healthspan, and lifespan," explained Dr. Vera Gorbunova, whose work on naked mole rats has revealed remarkable cancer resistance mechanisms. Pedro Magalhães, developer of a comprehensive database tracking lifespans across species, argued that understanding "why we live as long as we live" requires examining the evolutionary innovations that allow certain animals to far outlive humans. This approach faces funding challenges, however. Despite promising discoveries, researchers called for "more consortia" and a "big effort in comparative biology of aging" to translate animal longevity secrets into human applications. The unexpected star of the summit wasn't a new compound but an existing class of medications: GLP-1 agonists, originally developed for diabetes and now famous for weight loss. Dr. Christoph Westphal, co-founder of Longwood Fund, made a stunning prediction: "If all of us in this room, within three or four or five years, can prove that with GLP-1s you can extend healthy lifespan, it will actually be the first healthy lifespan increasing drug available. It's going to totally change the world." Westphal's enthusiasm reflects a paradigm shift in longevity research. "If you had told me that you would take something that has an effect in the brain and all over the body, and it's perfectly safe and it actually makes you live longer, I would have said, no way. But that's exactly what a GLP-1 is." The lesson for investors is clear, according to Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju of Samsara BioCapital: "A drug that shows measurable effects in a modest time with a modest number of patients can lead to longer studies for confirmation." The challenge is finding "near- to medium-term measurements that de-risk the investment." Perhaps the summit's most ambitious initiative is already underway in the UK. Professor Rahid Ali's "Our Future Health" program has collected data from over 1.5 million participants, with 1.3 million providing blood samples, making it the "world's largest health research study of its type." By deploying collection points in everyday locations like supermarkets and pharmacies, the program has democratized participation across socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The goal: five million participants creating an unprecedented dataset that could reveal the early signals of disease and the effectiveness of preventative interventions. Notably, Ali reported that "about 80% of the general population, once they understand the importance of working with industry, are willing to participate" despite growing privacy concerns around health data. "We're investing across the entire value chain, from idea all the way into clinical trials and beyond," explained a senior Hevolution executive. The foundation isn't just writing checks—it's creating an "action shop and a money shop" designed to shepherd promising longevity science from laboratory concepts to market-ready interventions. Dr. William Greene, Chief Investment Officer at Hevolution Foundation, emphasized the need to "invest in translation, since there's a valley of death between interesting laboratory observation and something that seems to actually impact health." The goal is finding "the outcome that we're looking for that will actually make humans into big mice"—transitioning laboratory findings into human benefits. This fundamental challenge was echoed by Dr. Jarod Rutledge: "If you're trying to do genomic management, or something that's purely preventative, commercial models are very challenging, but if you can start from a state of disease and walk all the way back to state of youthful health, then I think that is really promising." In an industry where early adopters could pay millions for unproven therapies, Hevolution's emphasis on global equity stood out. Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, emphasized that proposals undergo rigorous ethical review centered on one question: "Is the science good, but can it help fulfill the commitment to benefit all?" This principle—extending healthspan advancements to "all of human humanity" rather than creating a longevity gap between wealthy and developing nations—appears foundational to Hevolution's approach. HRH Dr. Haya Al Saud, SVP of Research at Hevolution, outlined the broader societal benefits: "First, we'll be able to reduce healthcare costs. Healthcare spending is skyrocketing worldwide, so this is a crucial and immediate impact. Second, we can tackle the workforce challenge we're seeing today... If we're able to extend healthspan, people can live—and work—longer, in good health." Dr. Haya at Global Healthspan Summit 2025. She also highlighted a surprising social benefit: "Many women leave the workforce because they are the primary caregivers for sick family members. By extending healthspan, we can support and encourage women to remain in the workforce." The summit highlighted how philanthropic organizations are evolving from passive funders to active ecosystem builders. Her Royal Highness Princess Dr. Haya bint Khaled Al Saud described philanthropy as a "catalyst for change" in the healthspan field. Yet Dr. Khan insists that true global access requires commercial involvement: "I do not believe there is an example, other than maybe mass polio vaccine campaigns, where the public sector can, on its own, democratize something. Every example I can think of in democratization has happened because the private sector figured out how to get something into the hands of as many people as possible." He added a historical perspective: "Government invented the internet, the private sector scaled it, and then leveraged it for core commerce." As Dr. Khan concluded the summit, he emphasized that it's not heroic individuals but collective wisdom that will transform aging: "It is not heroes that we are developing. It is the future of this collective wisdom that we're actually investing behind, because it's going to take the village, not a hero." The fundamental question remains: Can we translate scientific breakthroughs into practical interventions that meaningfully extend the healthy human lifespan? The convergence of unprecedented funding, regulatory innovation, massive datasets, and ethical frameworks suggests we're entering a new phase in longevity science—one where theory meets application. Whether the first beneficiaries emerge from clinical trials in Riyadh, research labs in Boston, or digital health platforms in London remains to be seen. What's clear is that the race for extended healthspan has evolved from fringe science to mainstream pursuit. With eight billion potential customers waiting, the winners stand to transform not just healthcare, but the fundamental human experience of aging itself.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Peru allows miners to seek permits in area removed from Nazca Lines protection
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Peru announced Tuesday that miners who had been operating illegally in a large protected archaeological reserve around the famous Nazca Lines will now be able to start the process of obtaining mining permits, after the government reduced the protected area by 42%. Energy and Mines Minister Jorge Montero said those working in the area must now legalize their mining activities since the zone is no longer designated as archaeological heritage. 'You're fully illegal when you operate in a place where mining is banned ... but since that cultural heritage restriction no longer exists, they're no longer in violation — they'll need to formalize their operations,' Montero said in a press conference in Lima on Tuesday for correspondents working for the international media. He added that the government does not yet know how many miners are currently active there. The area in question forms part of a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site, home to the Nazca Lines — massive geoglyphs etched into the desert thousands of years ago — and one of Peru's most fragile desert ecosystems. Last week, the Ministry of Culture issued a resolution reducing the protected area around the Nazca Lines by 2,397 square kilometers (925 square miles). The reserve, created in 1993, was set at 5,633 square kilometers (2,175 square miles) in 2004. 'It's incredible how the government is not even interested in the heritage of our ancestors that is unprotected, and will be destroyed without any control,' Peruvian environmental lawyer, Cesar Ipenza, told The Associated Press. Ipenza said once the miners enter, they will create huge environmental impacts, and will not assume responsibility. 'And now that the government has released the area from its protection, mining petitions have already started to appear,' he said. Culture Minister Fabricio Valencia said the reduction was based on 'over 20 years of rigorous studies' and that the true archaeological reserve is about 3,200 square kilometers (1,235 square miles). On Saturday, he acknowledged on local Peruvian media that mining was taking place within the reserve. Valencia said the UNESCO World Heritage site that contains the Nazca Lines themselves, covering about 450 square kilometers (174 square miles), was not affected by the change. The AP reviewed the resolution but found no details about the studies justifying the reduction. Requests for those studies went unanswered and UNESCO told AP it had not been notified by Peru of the change and that it will seek information from the government. In past years, Peru's Culture Ministry, prosecutors, and media reported illegal mining inside the protected reserve, including the destruction of mining machinery and camps. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
