Celebrate Retirement to the Fullest
It’s no secret that I really did not like my job and people are surprised that I kept at it for over forty years. No one at work guessed how much I disliked what I did and that I would rather just be home with a book in front of me and nowhere to go. When I could finally see the finish line, I was determined to celebrate retirement to the fullest. I was finally going to do the things that I wanted to do rather than what someone else was telling me needed to be done. I would set my own schedule, and no one was going to walk into my office to give me a new crisis to handle. I was finally free.
I no longer rush through my morning coffee or eat breakfast while I’m driving to work. I don’t have an alarm clock anymore unless we have an appointment. I still get up by 7 or earlier but there’s no longer an urgency to get somewhere (unless it’s the bathroom but that’s another matter) and my calendar is usually clear. I checked out the news of the day to see if any disasters occurred overnight but then I shut out the world for the next few minutes. I try to practice my faith, so my first order of business is the Bible readings for the day and then I try to make some sense of them in the best way I know how. This was missing from my working days but, if you want to celebrate retirement to the fullest (or life for that matter) you need to bring a sense of calm to your surroundings. I was not able to do that when I worked and it’s probably nobody’s fault but mine. I know there will be those who disagree, but I don’t think humans were meant to be under stress all the time. Many people think they function best under pressure, but I become a nervous wreck inside and trying to cover it up on the outside so no one will know. For the most part I guess I was successful because the people I worked with thought I was unflappable. Little did they know that it was like a duck gliding across a lake: a picture of serenity on top but the feet are going a mile a minute underneath.
Celebrate retirement to the fullest by taking the time to slow down and enjoy life.
I love my existence in retirement for many reasons, but the number one factor is the control that you have over your day. After working for years goals, targets and deadlines, I am the supervisor, manager and Chief Executive Officer of my existence although the saint that I married over fifty years ago has at least an equal say on what gets added to our schedule and what our travel goals for the year will be. When you celebrate retirement to the fullest, the same effort that you used to put into your annual objectives at work (didn’t you hate those?), can be put into your travel schedule for the coming year. And the truth is that I put much more effort and research into our journeys than I did the last few years of project planning when all I could think of was escaping the stressful environment of Corporate America forever. No one knew that except for my wife.
If you take the time to appreciate everything that life has to offer, you will find that the world around you will change for the better. You can linger and enjoy the moment if something catches your interest. You can walk down almost any small town in America and be captivated by an antique store, a small café or art gallery that displays the work of local artists. Don’t take those moments for granted. If you want to celebrate retirement to the fullest, make sure you savor each experience. Start a retirement journal like my wife did during our first winter escape as we journeyed south to escape the cold with our car filled from the back seat to the hatchback door from floor to ceiling. It was hysterical when we look back at it and recall that wonderful time through her journal entries. We had never been away from our home for more than two weeks and now we were going away for three months so we felt we had to be ready for any contingency. Being seasoned retirees at this point, we’ve cut out about two thirds of what we used to bring. The funny thing about it was that we weren’t alone. As we traveled down the interstate we saw other retirees in their big bus-like trailers or loaded down SUV’s doing exactly the same thing. It reminded us of what we saw when we took each of our children away to college. If you want to celebrate retirement to the fullest, make sure you capture the moments that bring a smile to your face. They will be the priceless memories and topics in conversation with others for years to come. We still enjoy being a part of the annual Migration of the Seniors that takes place every year on those southbound interstates.
What’s changed a bit over the years is the pace we live our life. We now take an extra day or two to get where we’re going and have found that there is a charming life that can be experienced in the small towns off the interstate. Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee have a wonderful little cities and small towns that just have to be experienced. If you travel during the winter, make it a point to see a couple of new places each year. Keep a journal. Find the small parks and museums and make sure you do some research on the restaurants that the locals call their favorites. Celebrate retirement to the fullest by savoring every moment that you’ve been given and every square inch of this beautiful world that you can get to. You can make new memories every day so why not get started? It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!
Thanks for visiting. If you like what you see here, please tell your friends. If you haven’t done so already, be sure you take The Self Discovery Challenge for Retirement! It’s designed to help you make the most of this wonderful time of your life. You’re never too old to discover something new about yourself!
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