Another Monday

Fitting myself into the autumn routine is easy enough but Monday mornings I find it hard to get that total enthusiasm one has on a Saturday morning. I feel like there are a stack of responsibility bricks over my head and I need to take them on all at once. I can’t just pull one off the imaginery shelf, look at it, solve the problem and slowly move on to the next one. No, I want to punch them all out of the way like a superhero dodging rockets with his fists. When I slow down, breathe and actually take a look at what I do in the first hour of my day I realize that I am getting things done and still giving myself time to get to work with plenty of spare time.

When I was in high school I always looked forward to Mondays when I would see my classmates again and start my social life. The weekends were my down time, studying and reading, school was actually Social. I notice with some of my older colleagues that their work is also their social time, particularly the men. Even though they are working diligently they are in the midst of people and that is important to them. Retirement is not really for them, at least not full time retirement. Hmm, I wonder if anyone has coined the term Part-time Retirement? Because that’s what I seem to see as a trend in my work environment. It’s very much a man thing. I believe women can handle retirement much easier than men, at least I like to think that I can handle it.

Monday mornings I just wish that the old retirement bell had rung for me. But now I have a count down, 3 years 9 months; when I feel stressed or put out; 3 years 9 months. Somehow that seems to make it more real and accessible. Just like a little kid counting down to Christmas or summer holidays. I was reading my manuscript yesterday before I got started on my long session of writing and there was an epiphany moment in the writing which concerned taking more breaks over the next few years. Naturally I forgot about it within the week but fortunately I’ve now been reminding myself that I need to do that. I need to grit my teeth even when the unexpected expense comes up and still give myself permission to take a break. Let go of being Responsible all the time. Sometimes it’s simply important to cut loose the money purse and dole out a bit for some rest and relaxation. I won’t go bankrupt if I spend $500 on a weekend a couple of times a year, for goodness sakes.

And isn’t that a blessing?