The Challenge of Today: (Audio)
The Challenge of today is to not let the day waste away without finding areas of productivity, kindness to strangers, or learning something new and different. Wow. Big challenge!
If you are living life moving forward, then all of these challenges are easily found, met, and your evening journal can reflect the wonder of a challenging day. But if life is moving slowly as molasses, perhaps you must look harder through the morass for opportunities to challenge your day.
I suspect it is simply a matter of perspective, but I don’t like to wake up and have nothing on my schedule. I’m a “go’er and a do’er“, but if these past few weeks have taught me anything, I don’t have to wake up and hit the floor running. A leisurely start to the days has been in order since my bride has been on a 4-week vacation. We purposely slowed down our schedule, and other than a few important tasks and morning commitments, we were happy thinking, “This is what retirement must look like!”
So. This got me thinking ahead to that proverbial retirement conundrum. That date is a long way off for me, but my bride will be hitting the target much sooner – if we’ve done our planning correctly. I’ve interviewed and watched retired people, mostly from afar, determine what their retired life is like. Much of it is a dissatisfying view, especially if your money perspective is not meeting your retired life perspective.
- Go to bed when you want to, and not when you have to!
- Get up when you wake naturally, and not when some jangling alarm (real or imagined) wakes you!
- Leisure times, like leisure suits, never go out of vogue, but trying to figure out what do with all this new-found leisure! Have you ever noticed the “l-e-i-s-u-r-e” starts with “L-E-I”… that’s a Hawaiian Lei, right? Hmmm. Where’s vacation in this newly retired status? (This is how my mind works all the time!)
- Read until my eyes are too tired, write my blog till my fingers quit, and…
Wait. What is retirement all about? Sounds like the final third of a life is sort of boring!
So. I’ve determined retirement must be about finding a new thing in my life to focus on! I love to write, so I think I’ll find plenty of time and opportunity to pen some words. I enjoy reading, by my eyes do get weary, so maybe some new hobby or money-making thing is in order.
Regardless, I cannot let retirement be about life as the way our vacation has been!
Our vacation has been a casual affair. We have chickens to care for, dogs to exercise, a parrot to love on. My task list for the upkeep of the home is lengthy, so I must learn to schedule the dollars and the days effectively. Fences, painting, repairs, and mowing. You know, all those important things that should be done at scheduled times. But a vacation mindset sort of let them pile up and with vacation nearing an end, my list is staring me in the face!
Somewhere along the way, I will still need to make money to fund all the extra things we want to do. I want to travel, build a barn, create a space for retirement that is comfortably enjoyed with family and friends. And all of that requires dollars.
Have you ever played the lottery? Well. Neither have I.
My bride returns to her job next Monday. The 4 weeks will be a blissful thought of history. Life returns to normal, and the daily task list full of goals and objectives gets pulled back into focus.
I wonder what heaven will be like?