A Fresh Start

Let’s be real.  Anyone can fall into a rut.  We get into a routine and do the same thing day after day and we find that awful word that begins with a “B” creeping into our vocabulary.  But you can fight off boredom very easily. Sometimes all you need is a fresh start to make a difference in your world.  A new hobby or interest can make all the difference in the world.  Planning a trip to someplace you’ve never been can become almost an obsession and make the hours whiz by.  Getting in touch with old friends can trigger memories and get you to recall old times like they were yesterday.  All you need to do is mix things up a bit to make life interesting again.

A fresh start may be all you need to make life interesting again.

Retirement should be the most interesting time of your life.  You spent decades working and doing what other people wanted you to do and now it’s your time to call the shots.  Please don’t tell me that you don’t know what to do.  If that’s the case, it’s because you’ve developed the habit of letting other people tell you what to do and it’s time to break that habit.  It’s time for a fresh start.  Start a new hobby or find a new subject to become an expert in.  Find a secluded spot and do a little self-examination by thinking back to your youth.  Weren’t there dreams that you had and things you wanted to try and places you wanted to go?  Don’t discard those memories as the fantasies of your youth because there’s often a desire hidden deep in those days that are long past.  Every dream is worth pursuing and every dream can be adapted for any age.  We should never say we’re too old to do something.  We may have to adapt it a little but almost every dream can be rekindled to bring new joy.  Did you want to play wide receiver for the Chicago Bears?  Look around for a senior’s league that plays touch football, and you might be surprised at how much fun you have.  Did you want to win the Masters?  Re-visit your golf game and take lessons to take your handicap down at least five strokes.  Setting goals (just like you had to do during your working days) can have a very positive impact on how you approach some of the activities you are taking for granted.  All you need is a fresh start to make things interesting again.

For those of us who like to travel, it’s easy to keep things interesting and new.  Just come up with a new itinerary and go to the places you’ve always dreamed about.  Did I ever think I would go to the places I thought about in my youth?  No, I didn’t think it was realistic.  My list had me going to a rather lengthy list of historical sites and Presidential homes that I never really thought were realistic.  Lincoln’s home, the Alamo, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Gettysburg, Williamsburg and Independence Hall seemed out of reach when we were struggling to have enough money to take our kids to Disney World.  I had a very demanding job which forced me to cancel two vacations and Corporate America was never too generous with vacation time to begin with.  I wasn’t surprised when I read that Americans work more hours than any other nationality.  I looked at retirement as a fresh start on my travel plans, and it has worked out even better than I thought.  We’ve traveled the United States extensively and when we turned our attention to the rest of the world, the list seemed even more exciting.

It is amazing what can happen when you plan your activities the same way you were required to do during your working years.  People don’t approach their retirement in the same way they did to their working careers and that, in some cases, leads to a routine that can become a little bit too predictable.  I think everyone should have a list of things they want to do, places they want to see, books they want to read and new things they want to try.  That’s what life is all about.  When you get tired of traveling (that hasn’t happened yet), it’s time for a fresh start on something else.  Life is too short to spend being bored.  There are too many things to learn about and see and it makes everything that happens even more meaningful.  It makes you realize that people throughout the world want the same things and how lucky we are to be living in this country.  Despite the fact that we have made great progress on our travel list, there is still much of the world we have yet to see.

The best part about traveling and learning is that it broadens your horizons.  You realize that there are many perspectives and many different cultures.  That can never get old or boring.  We should be careful not to fall into a rut and insulate ourselves in our own little world.  There are exciting things that await us and sometimes all we need is a fresh start to get ourselves out of our routine.  There are new things to learn and new places to see.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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