It was nice to be home for a normal weekend, but I miss the adventures of the road. There is something restful about the routine of being in a familiar place. At the same time exploring new frontiers, expands my world view.
I have known a few road warriors, people whose work involved near weekly travel, for years at a time. Some of them burn out. One I know let over 1-million frequent flyer miles expire after he retired, the last thing he wanted to do was go to the airport and fly someplace - he didn't realize he could give the miles away. My travel has been more balanced, enough - but seldom too much. There was only once when I really wanted less travel the next year. Would I have done more, maybe, would I have regretted traveling more, maybe.
I am looking forward to retirement, and terrified. The biggest thing I will miss is the money, but we have run the numbers and we will be just fine. I am looking forward to the flexibility, to doing new things, having time to do favorite things. I worry that I will struggle to fill the days, or the lack of routine will lead to inaction. I will need to find a new routine.
I have grown accustomed to having a soap box to climb on and express my opinions. Once in a while I even get a compliment on my observations. Beyond this blog I wonder if anyone will want to hear or publish my ramblings when my title is former x of x? Mixed feelings.
On my first online forum (Virtual Tourist) my motto was, "we regret most the things we didn't do." Sometimes the thing we need to do, is do nothing, not as in don't change, but as in change to not do what we have always done. That is the face of retirement, the face of my future.
So much for this week's peak into my complicated mind, to my moods.
I recently had a good friend retire and he thinks now he's made a mistake. While he has the luxury to do as he pleases, he misses the daily interactions and the structured schedule and being useful to many. He may go back to work now part time. Says he goes stir crazy.
ReplyDeleteMy mother...81 and still working part time. She's as far from domesticated as one gets. If she's happy, and it keeps her going and staying healthy and mentally fit... I say go for it.
I need to create a structure, and meaning in my life. With remote work 3/5ths of the time, there is much less interaction already.
DeleteIf you've done the sums and they work, then as I did with a similar fear, find you have an adequate supply of money.
ReplyDeleteI have to remember I can't take it with me, and if I don't start spending it, why did we save it?
DeleteYou are so curious and interested in so many things, I think you'll find your way happily into your retirement.
ReplyDeleteMost likely,
DeleteYou are pensive and a little anxious about how retirement will work out for you. I would like to suggest that you find a charity you believe in and give them a slice of your time each week on the understanding that you will take travel breaks whenever you wish. Giving time and effort to a cause you care about will give your life in retirement a bit more purpose.
ReplyDeleteThere are a million options,
DeleteI think the key to retirement is keeping busy doing things you love that aren't work. And you have a lot of those things already.
ReplyDeleteThe fun will expand to fill the time available.
DeleteEveryone has anxiety about retiring. I'm sure it will dissipate once you're actually retired and living your best life!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it
DeleteThis new phase of your life is all about balance and it is a little scary because you are totally in charge. Give yourself time and grace and you will find your retirement groove!
ReplyDeleteIn a year, I will wonder how I ever found time to work
DeleteI understand those feelings. Something tells me you will thrive after retirement.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe find my way back to Phoenix.
DeleteI understand your retirement feelings as I have been experiencing them myself over the last couple of months. Today my former colleagues went back to school, and I didn't! A weird feeling. I think that you will find that retirement is a good thing, you will not have to constantly follow a clock and to juggle when you have appointments around your work schedule. But nutty me, I just applied to be a substitute teacher to earn a few extra dollars. Am I nuts or what? :-)
ReplyDeleteI read a book this last year, that described a man retiring and moving, on the ferry boat to his retirement home, he took off his watch and tossed it into the sea. A nice symbolic act.
DeleteThe advice that I heard was to not take on anything new for the first 6 months to a year. Use this fallow period to consciously choose to do one or two particular things that you've always wanted to do but have never had the block of time to do ( the old Pay yourself first lesson, but the currency is time). Also use the down time to think more deliberately about what you want next instead of filling the void with activities.
ReplyDeleteYes, I need to really take some time to settle in
Delete