On January 12, six days after I officially retired, I wrote my very first post on Substack entitled Perspective: Retirement Is Not a Dead End.
Since then, to my delight, I have found many Substackers near my age who write about different aspects of retirement, from Rocco Pendola’s Never Retire to articles like Age Can Be the New Muse by Alison Acheson in Unschool for Writers.
Many of us “Senior Citizens” are finally doing what we always wanted to do when we grew up - write.
The great part about this is that we all have decades of experiences to write about and we can all collaborate and encourage each other to “go for it”.
Some but not all of us are not necessarily in it for the $ (although that would be welcomed also) but for the joy of actually writing. More than we ever have.
It’s been fun.
In nautical terms, I’m getting my writing “sea legs”. Learning the ropes, so to speak. While having a general direction for what I write, I am trying out different genres and styles.
I love reading the various newsletters that draw from life experiences. There is so much overlap with my own experiences, yet so much to learn from others.
I recently completed my seventh decade of life. While having to make certain adjustments to activity levels, I do not think or feel myself to be anywhere near 70.
For decades, due to the nature of what I did for a living, I worked in windowless environments. So, it’s been exciting to be able to get up each morning with no rush and no “agenda” except to write.
Usually, I grab some coffee & toast and then “go to work” at my desk, many times still in my pajamas, which overlooks a meadow, a farm pond, and glorious sunrises like this one:
Or when it’s warm outside, I may sit on the front porch with coffee for a while and enjoy the view of the mountain range a short distance away, before heading in to write.
My choice.
While it is important to view writing as my “job" and not just a hobby, probably the most liberating thing has been the ability to develop a schedule around my own timetable and preferences.
It’s like I’ve started living the life I’ve always wanted to live.
So, while having retired from a job, I have not retired from work. I am as busy now as when I was working full-time.
I fail to see how anyone could view retirement as boring.
The difference is that now I get to choose what I do, not a company or a boss or a job. I may choose to work a part-time job at some point or volunteer at some organization that could utilize my talents, skills, and abilities.
Again, my choice. I get to choose what and where.
And then there’s the travel perspective …
This has been the hardest, yet most liberating mind reset.
My wife and I are planning to fly out to New Mexico in May for our grandson’s 3rd birthday.
Because I have always had to schedule time off around my work and the number of vacation hours I had accumulated, that is how my mind still thought.
Then yesterday, as we were talking about this trip, I said “Well we could fly out on a Tuesday and come back the following Tuesday”.
She responded, “Why do we have to come back the following Tuesday?”.
Light bulb moment.
What a liberating question. It completely caught me off-guard.
She was right. We could come back whenever we wanted to come back (or when our daughter and son-in-law decided it was time).
Slowly, but surely, I am getting the hang of this new mind reset that retirement is not an age.
What about you?
Great post and perhaps you'll have a moment to check out my writings at https://jordanjankus.substack.com/. I was a bit adrift when I retired but writing, grandchildren and volunteering keep my life very full. So grateful that I came across your creative outlet!
Thanks for the nod. But., beyond that, I love this post. Nice job concisely discussing your transition to retirement. And beautiful pictures, too!