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The 24-hour day is loosely arranged in our society as eight hours of work, eight hours of personal time (which includes getting ready for work and going to and from so really depending on our travel time we get a lot less personal time), and eight hours of sleep (if we don’t have kids). I’ve been retired from the office for four years and I’ve had a tough time changing that schedule. In the beginning I stayed up late and slept in---for five days. I went right back to early to bed and early to rise. I may have the farming gene. I hit the floor running every day. Often when asked to lunch or other activities I have to decline because I’m busy. I know what comes next: “But you’re RETIRED. How busy can you be?” I’m not a violent person but when someone asks me “what on earth” I do all day now that I’m “retired” I must practice extreme self-control.A few months before I retired from my office job I launched a small business so that it would be up and running once I retired from the office. It was something I had planned for many years and I thought it would be a fun way to move into a different career. Running a small business usually takes many hours every day and includes weekends. There were times when I put in 16-hour days and worked all weekend never taking a day off. The work was somewhat seasonal and picked up tremendously from September through December. After Christmas it completely died until May. From December through May, however, I prepared inventory for the next season. During this time I also finished my second novel, drafted my third, and started a weekly blog. I organized 100 years of family photos, overhauled my address book, set up systems on my computer I only dreamed of when I worked at the office, and so on. In other words, every minute of every day was used to the max. I was making up for lost time. I certainly don’t consider that “retired.”
After three years I decided to throw in the towel on the small business. This economy is tough for a small retail business and the fees and costs of materials slowly crept up, up, up. (And I needed more time to finish and start books.) I started the retail business for extra income but I was barely breaking even and not making much of a profit because of the increased costs so I stopped. Plus it was taking more time that I wanted. Did I retire--again? No.Next I launched into house projects. In fact, for years I maintained a list of things I wanted to do to my house. Weekends never provided me with enough time for the really big jobs when I had my office job. Besides, when I did the 8 to 5 routine I had laundry, grocery shopping, bills to pay, kids to scream at, etc. I bought this house new sixteen years ago and started making lists of things I needed to do. I never had time (or money) to “decorate” it but I pushed things around here and there and placed plants on tabletops. My front yard was landscaped but I had to do the back yard. I made several mistakes in materials for that yard (because everything I did when I worked 8 to 5 I did in a hurry) and finally got it right after doing it over a few times---by myself. Over the last five years out of the sixteen it has finally taken shape and is enjoyable to spend time in and work in. It’s a very small space, which doesn’t take a lot of time to maintain but it does require some effort.
I recently painted my bathroom and when it was done the floor looked shabby. It was in excellent condition but looked outdated compared to the snappy paint job. So I ran to the giant home store and bought press-&-place tiles and now the bathroom, which is in two parts, looks great. Guess what that meant? The rest of the house looked shabby. So I launched The Great Painting Project. During that project other projects surfaced and the end result is my entire house is painted and finally organized---sort of. But it took a while because I had too many interruptions because I’m so busy.Yet, I had to stop a few times. Two birthdays came up in my family and I had a photo album/DVD/scrapbook project in mind for them so everything stopped and I spent MANY HOURS working on the albums. When I worked at the office I would have longed to have the time for such a project but I didn’t. Now that I have the time (sort of) I feel compelled to do things like that instead of ordering gifts online. It seems I’ve turned into a do-it-yourself fanatic.
Friends often suggest coffee or lunch and I have a hard time fitting those outings into my project list. If I get enough notice I’ll meet up with them and I’m always glad I did but if I’m in the middle of a project I just can’t seem to tear myself away from it. Painting in particular is not a project I like to leave exposed for a long period of time. Not long ago I painted my bedroom and during the middle of the project something urgent came up and it took me a couple of weeks to get back to my painting. Because I knew I’d be away from it for a while I spent several hours thoroughly cleaning my brushes and pads and putting the entire mess away in the garage. After the two-week interruption I pulled everything out again and realized it was a big pain to do that. So now unless someone has a medical emergency once I start a painting project I’m not going anywhere until it’s done. I also learned that being away from it for a couple of weeks made it harder to start again. I’d lost interest (with half the bedroom painted). Lesson learned.My kids are both in their 30s and as each Sunday draws near I hear the familiar groans about the work week looming large. We call it “Sunday Night Anxiety.” They hadn’t finished all of their shopping for the week, nor the laundry, they both had mail they still needed to sort through, things to do around their homes, and they just ran out of time. Sometimes my daughter tells me I’m lucky because I’m retired. She’s right. I am lucky that I have a pension and could retire from the office and not live under a bridge. But that isn’t what she means. She thinks I have all the time in the world to lounge around and relax and do nothing. I’m busier now than when I worked.
Even after I dumped my small retail business I never stopped doing things. The difference now is I work from early in the morning until late at night on projects instead of 8 to 5 and on weekends. I took more time off for recreation when I had my office job all those years. I went more places and spent more time away from the house. Forced labor in the office all week propelled me out into the world on weekends. Now it takes dynamite to tear me away from home. I also have two dogs and we walk every day. It’s good for them and good for me. It takes almost two hours. When I worked the dog I had then was lucky to get a quick walk around the block---on the weekend. And there’s the difference. I have the time to do what I want and I make sure I cram every minute of every day with stuff I like to do or need to do. Everything I do now is for me and not an employer. Even though it can be tiring and backbreaking I don't care. It’s for me. (I also help my mom out who lives in another town about an hour from me.) For the first time in my life I do things for me almost exclusively (except for mom and the dogs).
The point of all this is: I haven’t stopped participating in life. I do know how to relax and I do have portions of each day that I devote to reading or watching a movie or a bubble bath. But for the most part I’m “at it” every morning. Early. One would think that with all this crazed activity I’d have a perfectly organized home. I don't. Most of it is neat and tidy but my “office” was a disaster until just a few months ago and my garage is jammed packed full. Most of the items can be sent to the dump but I haven’t had the time to deal with the garage. It’s because my list is so long. And not only is it long, I add things to it on a regular basis. So why do people ask me what I do all day? The concept of “retirement” needs an overhaul. Today’s seniors, at least the ones in my group, are active and full of spunk. It drives me nuts when working friends say they don’t know what they’ll do all day when they retire. The answer: don’t retire. Just shift employment duties to the home front and develop a personal life. We are more than employees. We are vibrant, active, industrious people. We only retire from the 8 to 5, not the 24/7.
I’m NOT retired from life, just the office. If you value your safety, don’t ask me what on earth I do all day. [No part of this content may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.]
