I wrote a save list identifying thoughts to record.
First, the last six months have been about learning to rebalance life. Maybe those who have husbands and families are able to resist moving on the work continuum toward workaholic, but I have often found myself inching toward true workaholism in every job I've undertaken
The New Retirementality identifies the best retirement as not retiring from but retiring to. However, something in between seems to be there for me. I've had to leave jobs to actually retire to better balance. These six months have helped rebalance me. I resisted too much volunteering or jumping back into a part time job so that I could enjoy large blocks of free time.
I'm still not doing leisure very well, but I've been able to start exploring a passion for crochet and want to improve other needle arts as well. The temptation to be busy is still there. I think it is probably an addiction at times as Overwhelmed states.
My conclusion is that one size does not fit all. Just because some people ease into retirement while others go cold turkey doesn't mean one of them is wrong. Perhaps we need more people who eschew the common job oriented approach to life the 20th and 21st century espouse. However, I cannot recommend a viable alternative, except to say follow God's leading and pray!
Final thought here is from a series of books by Guideposts
The two female characters in the book are visiting a beauty shop. The elderly character says to the beautician, "Don't do anything special." Whereupon her friend reminds her not to fall into the trap of not taking care of herself just because she has fewer social contacts. "You're retired from a job, not life." Jones, Annie. The Flight of the Sparrows. Guideposts, 2009 (p. 62).
So, the upshot is that I don't know what I'm retiring to as yet, but I hope to have many more thoughts and memories to add to the past 60 years.
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