Welcome everyone! Glad to see you again!
As I write this, I have just completed my actual first week of retirement! Exciting, and slightly surreal that it finally came to pass!
In my August 25 post, I talked about what I wanted my first real retirement day to look like! Well, it turned out PRETTY much as I hoped! I wanted to take a walk with my husband and crazy dog in our neighborhood…however, rain/snow and rural dirt roads are not a good mix, and I was afraid my shoes would each weight 50 pounds when I got back home with mud on them, so no walking that day or that week…BUT otherwise, the first day was a lovely freedom celebration! We went to the coffee shop, I had my green tea latte, worked on my Tuesday upcoming Bible study lesson, talked to my husband, chatted with the owners of the shop and had a lovely time!
I also asked my husband to start my personal training, and using a program from the Total Gym, he started me on my way! I am doing 6 days a week on that, with a different set of exercises every day, demonstrated by my sweet hubby, and that is going well! In fact, I just finished my day 6 routine!
I did have some interesting observations about myself this first retirement week, though! First is that, on about Wednesday evening, a fleeting thought crossed my mind that, well, my week off is more than half over, make the best of it, back to work next week! Then, WAIT, this isn’t vacation, it’s retirement! LOL! Also, one day I tried to use my work login for my home computer! OY! Old habits apparently die hard!
I am still a list maker because, as I have told you earlier, I still have a need for some structure, and I have some specific things I still need/want to accomplish. I noticed I started my first list with “Monday” – then, like most “to do” lists, at least for me, not everything gets accomplished on that one day and I felt a bit of angst about what didn’t get done. THEN I realized, I don’t HAVE TO DO IT ALL on Monday! THAT was a very freeing thought!
A very enjoyable first retirement week for me! Things accomplished, things done on a whim and some down time! I like it!
I read an article this week that I downloaded entitled “19 TIPS FOR AN AMAZING ‘RETIREMENT LIFE’” by Cyn Meyer, Founder of Second Wind Movement (http://secondwindmovement.com/about-cyn-2/). I will likely discuss some of that in later blogs because it was very interesting and follows some of what my blog is all about. But I believe the overarching theme of the article is that we need to prepare to live our retirement years (AND, as per my earlier blogs, ALL of our life), “with intention.” I think you might enjoy checking out this website!
Take care…I hope you are working on your lists (see my earliest blogs if you aren’t sure what that means) and preparing to live your life both NOW and in your retirement with joy, purpose and intention!
Have a great day!
Mary