It’s April 1st but this is
one person who is not a fool today as she celebrates her 6 month anniversary as
a retiree. As my “retirement coach”
suggested, a person should look back on their time and say “wow, what a great
ride” rather than “how time flies”. I am
happy to report that the first is what I am thinking about the first 6 months
and I am looking forward to more of the same over the spring and summer months.
Looking at the 6 sections of the
Retirement Pie (Physical, Mental, Social, Financial, Spiritual & Activity)
I would say that I have concentrated on 4 pieces to date. I have stayed steady on a one hour exercise
program, I have practiced frugality (after a well-planned financial program
that I have been working with my adviser on) and I have nailed down my social
life almost by accident. Delivering my
eggs to my former colleagues once a week has also served as lunch and coffee
dates that keep me well connected. As
well, it is fortunate that in this age of electronics we have the use of
Facebook and email to stay in touch with so many people who lead busy lives. As for activity, it seems like there aren’t
enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to do but there’s always
tomorrow. And I haven’t even got to the “leisure”
part of retirement yet! And Mom thought
I would be bored.
As for the Spiritual and Mental pieces,
I seem to be lagging a little in these departments but hey, it’s only the first
6 months! To some extent I have been
learning since I have been reading a lot on sustainable farming, beekeeping and
gardening in general. My book club is
back to reading some good books and of course my usual reading never
falters. But as for my Spanish lessons, no comprendre. The books are on hand for easy access but “I
have not time” keeps cropping up.
So what can I say about retirement
besides “it is highly recommended”?
Succinctly, get yourself together.
At the top of the list be sure you are financially ready for the jump
because if you don’t know how to rein in your spending habits you will quickly
get yourself into trouble. Second, it is
vital that you have yourself psychologically ready to take the jump. Third, you need to be sure that you have
enough things in your life to keep you busy and these should be things that you
truly enjoy. Not the honey do jar type
of things but things you just love to do.
If you have always planned on making a shop in your garage because you
want to do more carpentering, then great.
If you want to clean out the garage, to clean out the garage, well, not
so great because that is a very limited task.
What I have found is that one project has led to others along the same
line which is to get my hobbies running efficiently for me, those hobbies being
arts & craft and gardening / farming.
The more a read up on retirement the
more I realize that there are a whole lot of things that a person can interest themselves
in. One can take a scholarly route into
studying up on a subject and even become an expert on it, perhaps writing a
thesis or book. One can find all kinds
of sports to partake in and some or very inexpensive. For example hiking and cross country skiing
are pretty cheap activities. While doing
those activities one could also enjoy photography (which can be a bit more
expensive if you really get into fancy cameras) or socializing.
Meditating is something that costs
nothing but your own concentration but this is an area that I must confess to
being slow to get deeply in to though it is a definite goal for me. Most people today are not church goers but
attending church is inexpensive and you have opportunities to get involved both
socially and charitably with these organizations. If you are not faith oriented then meditation
is a great alternative to getting in touch with the spiritual side of your
being. Now that may seem very hokey but
the facts show that all 6 pieces of the Retirement Pie are essential for a well-rounded,
fulfilling life.
One last word, the greatest compliment I
have received is the comment that I am the poster child for what retirement should
look like.
(please don’t hate me).
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