Retired, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Ever get all dressed up and have nowhere to go? In that case, maybe just sit and have a cuppa' tea and consider the universe........

Retirement, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I never get tired of this spot on Manomet bluff: the curve of the bay, Stage Point in the distance, the grand house, and the dark blue waters of Cape Cod Bay. If I am taking my daily walk starting from home, I will always detour past here to just soak it in for a moment. If I don't create and string together beautiful moments, it won't get done - no one else can do it for me.

I realize that I am very fortunate to be able to enjoy a retirement. Many people don't get that luxury. Retirement is not a natural state of being. One must learn how to "be retired" just like learning how to do any activity in life. Since I was a working person for 40+ years, it was/is difficult to slow down and adjust to the more deliberate and less driven lifestyle that retirement offers. It took me a while to get the hang of it.

I am one of those people who set goals and dreams to reach toward. Retirement was always that magical endpoint in the far off future. And then suddenly, one day, I was carrying a box out of my office with all my personal effects for the final time. I was "retired." Very disorienting.

I love that in the Spanish language, the word "retired" translates as "jubilado." That sounds like it is somehow derived from the root "jubilant" in English. And jubilant is what I felt upon reaching the goal of retirement.

But once the initial novelty of being retired wore off, I needed to dangle myself more carrots to reach towards, more goals to seek.

I have usually not been content to just "be." Whether programming, habit, or choice - I led a driven lifestyle. As I reflect, I am not sure if that condition was a blessing or a curse.

But I know this: I am definitely not ready for the television and a recliner chair.

A Few More Thoughts About Retirement

I sat a few feet away from this gull to see how long it would take before he flew away.  It was quite a while. But I had a while to wait.

So, here are a few more ramblings in my occasional posts about retirement.

1. Watching the gull take wing, leaving the bonds of earth - it must have been magical to early humans. I remember from early school days that the study of flight was quite intriguing to Leonardo daVinci. I recall that his notes and dreams portrayed flight themes. It is nice to have time to sit and watch, to not feel hurried all the time - to indulge a whim and not be always "scheduled"  - to imagine flying.

2. I don't want to do as much stuff as I used to do. Under-scheduling is better than over-scheduling. Does that mean I'm lazy, or old, or retired, or smart, or all of the above? I'm not interesting in doing, seeing, having, being everything. I'd rather lightly step into the remaining years rather than race panting and out of breath trying to do it all. Two very different approaches to living.

3. I can drive or walk to a nearby market and procure fresh and/or packaged foods all year around with rarely an absence or shortage. Even fresh veggies in the middle of winter.What a remarkable feat that is in the world and one enjoyed by few.  But at what cost to the planet? Many of the humans around the world have no electricity, no safe and consistent water supply, nor a safe and secure consistent food supply.  The "New World" has afforded us extraordinary bounty.

4. The cell phone is a two-edged sword. It's great for an emergency but, I 'm not so keen on the idea that anyone can interrupt me at any time they choose. Why is that a good thing? My generation spent 50 years of ours lives unencumbered with forced external intrusion.  Parents used to shoo kids out of the house to play until the next mealtime. Why should someone on a phone have the right to interrupt and take precedence over someone who is there in person? That seems to be who we have become as a culture.

5. Life has demarcation points, both positive and negative - before and after first love, before and after marriage, before and after birth of child, before and after death of a parent, before and after heart attack, before and after cancer, before and after......  Retirement is a also clear demarcation point.  To go from having to work to bring in  money versus not having to work to bring in money.

6. Sometimes, retirement just feels like I am still on a really long vacation - that quasi mental state when you relax but not quite completely without  fleeting thoughts of work.  But work has changed.  Now, instead of thinking about air traffic control, my thoughts are of my new "work" - the somewhat artistic pursuit of publishing a blog almost daily - ideas, thoughts, photos, text, messages, themes, the task ahead. Work is life - work is part of our human condition as long as we can physically and/or mentally do so and still draw breath.

7. I have a growing recognition that there is an end - deferring dreams until later is not a good idea.  There may not be a later.

8. I think I'll go for a walk and ponder - or maybe just wander aimlessly and enjoy being alive.

Sometimes, just sitting in the yard with a cup of something and saying "hello" to passersby is hard to improve upon. (This isn't me, just another retiree staying at a Bed and Breakfast in downtown Plymouth).

Which Path?

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"....... begins the Robert Frost poem whose meaning scholars still can debate.  How are paths chosen in one's life?  Significant choices made or unmade? Selected or rejected?  A choice is easy with the benefit of hindsight. But decision-making in real time does not often offer that feature.  Pick A or B, but pick we must.

21 months ago I chose retirement after 40 years of working.  First of all, I recognize how fortunate I am to be able to have had the choice to retire - many don't. But was it a good choice?  Only now when I can look back can I try to answer that question.

The answer is yes and  no. Like many of life's choices, it isn't a black and white result. Yes, it's great to have my own schedule, yes it's great to not have to get up early and commute to work, yes it's great not to have to put up with mindless bureaucracy, yes it's great to have time to do much of what I want, yes it's great to be able to stop and smell the roses.  But the fact is, after a lifetime of work, what I seem programmed to do is work. I haven't figured out how to turn that off yet.  I miss the work and the people I worked with - they were a talented and committed group (and some should have been committed - just kidding). I miss the importance of what I did, the responsibility, the power, the intensity of the life in air traffic control.  Would I go back if magically I could? Which path would I choose?

Country Lane, Fall, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Sometimes I just wander with no particular purpose, no destination, no goal. (Except to maybe find or create  blog material).  This little pastoral gem of a location in rural Plymouth brought to mind an old James Taylor song, "....walk on down a country road."

As a retiree, I've gained some perspective from my former working life: it seems there was way too much hurryin' and scurryin' around. I like the more leisurely pace for man and beast alike suggested by this scene.

And speaking of leisurely pace - that's as good a definition of retirement as any. Retirement is like taking a really, really long vacation - and who wouldn't like that?  Retirement in my case is also about the release from duty - duty to the air traffic control mission, duty to the job, duty to the public, duty to my co-workers.  It's a hard habit to break - sense of duty. I still miss it - and them -  I suspect I always will.

But now, the pull of a simple life is hard to resist.

And since I invoked James Taylor earlier, I am also reminded of another of his tunes, "....the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."  I enjoy the luxury of having carefree blocks of time to simply wander about, explore randomly, neither agenda nor fixed purpose to drive me - just simply "be" - like I was as a kid in the 1950's. Back then there were no play groups, no electronics, barely any television - kids had to create their own things to do by themselves - and it was almost always outdoors.

Today, it seems that everything must be scheduled and planned. It just leads to more hurryin' and scurryin'. I think I'll just sit a spell and think on it.

Retirement

Does a retiree play endless games?

Or tinker in the garden? Or volunteer for worthy causes, or travel, or what?

I was talking recently about retirement with friends who are considering doing the same thing. I have posted before on a few occasions about my own retirement. I'm not sure why I keep coming up with additional observations about it. Even after more than a year, it still feels so completely different from what I knew as "normal" life. I spent 40+ years working - it is still odd to not work anymore. Work was a large part of who and what I was. (I use the term "work" in the formal sense - performing tasks for which monetary compensation is received). It was predictable, took place at a known location, and involved set tasks. Some people can retire and don't, some people want to retire and can't - I could retire and I did.

As a retiree, my new random, unscripted life is such a departure from that scheduled existence it feels like I'm living a different life - and I am. Perhaps that's the essence of retirement - a new and different life that is created differently each day. Whether playing badminton or eating fresh garden tomatoes, or whatever - the choice is mine for when, what, and how.

Someone asked me this question, "would I go back to work in my former job if magically the opportunity appeared?" Hmmmmmm.

Retirement

 I wonder why the first and most common question people ask me is, "how do you like being retired?" Why does everyone wonder how you like it? Should I NOT like it? Is there some unspoken fear of retirement? Perhaps it reminds folks of the approaching end of life? Perhaps they dread the hours and days of unplanned unscheduled life? Perhaps they married for better or worse but not for lunch?

I spent 30 years either making direct safety decisions as an air traffic controller or, as an air traffic manager creating and implementing policy or procedures that affect safety.  The responsibility was 24/7/365 - phone calls in the middle of the night, pages, texts, endless emails, issues occurring anytime and any day. Frankly, it's a nice change to only be responsible for myself and family. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed almost every moment of my air traffic career and I still miss it daily - but retirement suits me now and I'm glad to enjoy the luxury of it.

And speaking of suits (the other kind), I was in a clothing store the other day (Kohl's - with lots of other white haired weekday shoppers) and walked by a rack a suits and other such dress clothes. I realized that it has been more than a year since I wore a tie, suit, or dress clothes. I like that. No, I mean I REALLY like that. 

One retirement challenge is that I must create my life daily. When I had a job to define my days and weeks as the main focus around which other sub-activities revolved, life was easier and more predictable in many respects. Now, life and time are more like a blank canvas. Filling that canvas takes some practice and intent. I hope I get to keep practicing for a long while.

Retirement - Another Look

Is this what retired looks like? Or, is this what lazy looks like? Maybe both retired and lazy?

So how does a person be "retired"? Does it mean no work, or, some work, or, un-work, or, different work, or, unpaid work? How and why did "work" get such a bad name?

After eleven months of "retirement," I have reached a preliminary conclusion that retirement does not mean the absence of work.  Death is the absence of work. Humans are hard-wired to work. Work requires thought, plan, purpose, effort, and action regardless the subject. Humans do just that.

What retirement can offer though, is the ability to choose and control the how, when, what, where, and who, that defines work.  Work must create value and be fulfilling - whatever the subject. 

Creating blogs is now my work - I think I'll get back to it.......either that or find my blankie and take a nap.

Retirement

One of the best things about retirement is that I am rarely in a rush to get somewhere - I can usually take the time to randomly stop and observe or make note of something beautiful about our world - I like that. After a lifetime of having to "be somewhere," it is wonderfully freeing to not have to be "scheduled" all the time anymore.

And very often, there is much beauty around us worth stopping to enjoy. I try to remember and look for it.

For example, these flowers were on a highway median, so I parked the car and got out and wandered around. "CAUTION! - old man in hat beside roadway behaving unpredictably."

So people have been asking me, "how do you like being retired?"  The answer in a few words is: "I like it!"  It creates a freeing and calming feeling. I can slow down and reawaken the childish wonder I seem to have lost somewhere along the road of growing up.  (Either that or my senility is kicking in.)

What did it all mean, a lifetime of work? How do I sum it up?
Retirement stirs up many complicated feelings and thoughts.  Perhaps the most noticeable change is the loss of my "work family" - you know, the people who, day in and day out, I spent more waking hours with than my own blood family.  We did a lot of good things together, my work family and I. Truly, I was fortunate to spend 30-years working in a profession with talented, capable people who did real work, work that was difficult, important, and meaningful, and they knew it and they did it with purpose and commitment. I worked with people of honor, people I could count on and who could count on me.

If I could share only one lesson with my now grown son about my lifetime of work, it would be this: always act with honor and expect it from others - everything else is secondary.

But enough philosophy - I am sure there must somewhere I could wander off to right about now..............