Simple Pleasures
Today marks the one month anniversary of my entry into retirement on June 27, 2006, the day following my sixtieth birthday.
Any change in one's lifescape is almost certain to be an emotional experience. It's only human. Be it the birth of a child or death of a parent, a marriage or an unmarriage, a new house or a change in job status, most people don't always handle transitions terribly well. I am no exception. Yet, while emotions were certainly a part of my first month of retirement, it was also a month filled with many simple pleasures.
I was concerned in the beginning with being able to disconnect from my life's work after having it on my mind 24/7 for 24 years. Would I continue to wake at 3:00 in the morning with some new pricing scheme? Would I still ponder competition while driving along the highway? Could I learn to simply not care anymore whether a new product succeeds or fails? Some demons, I've learned, are easier to exorcise than others, but I'm getting there. And, of course, not having deadlines to meet or reports to write or forecasts to make or goals to achieve or budgets to beat are among the greatest of all the simple pleasures.
So is getting up at 5:45 am because you want to rather than because you have to if you are to have any change of making it to work on time. And, of course, the greatest simple pleasure of them all is the afternoon nap. As long as you want, as short as you want. No limits, no consequences. Just like Sam taught me. Pure pleasure, plain and simple.
After one month of retirement, my only regret is that I've not started an oil painting or read a Harvard Classics book. I've simply not had the time. Oh, that's not true. I've had plenty of time but I've let other things get in the way. Sculpting, gardening, golf, being as one with the great outdoors. Walking old roads. Visiting the places of my youth. Smoking cigars. Hearing the silence of the mountains. Listening to the rain. Watching the sun set. Feeling the darkness of night surround you. Not knowing which day of the week it is and not particularly caring. Yes, indeed, simple pleasures all.
After one month I'm still not yet certain about what to do with the rest of my life. No matter how many assets you have set aside and what resources you have put into place, you can never be certain that you will run out of life before you run out of money. And, I do so loathe left-brained budgeting!
One of the options I've considered is going back to work. Maybe two or three days a week, and not in corporate America. Teaching is one possibility, but with the price of gasoline being what it is and what teachers get paid these days, that's a break-even scenario at best. I've also considered starting a business of one kind or another. Of course, the great risk with a business is that they can become great sinkholes of time.
I've talked with a number of retirees over the last month and, to a person, they have all advised me to stay retired. Indeed, nary a one of them expressed any regrets of having done so.
Full time retirement would afford the most opportunities for simple pleasures. I could, for example, volunteer to help maintain the Appalachian Trail. That would be very satisfying to me because the AT is a simple pleasure available to everyone who will only partake of it.
Now that I've mastered the washing machine, I've also discovered a number of simple pleasures in house husbandry, none more so than preparing dinner. I love to cook. It's a very right-brained activity when you don't use recipes and I seldom, if ever, do. It's a pleasure to go to the market in the afternoon and shop for food for that evening's dinner. What looks good. What's on sale. What you already have on hand. What will go with what. Just like a chef, except that you are cooking in a restaurant with a single table for two. Indeed, with your purchases and a little imagination, it's a simple pleasure to prepare a healthy and satisfying dinner at a minimum of expense.
And, with that, I think it's time for me to join Sam in a nap.
Any change in one's lifescape is almost certain to be an emotional experience. It's only human. Be it the birth of a child or death of a parent, a marriage or an unmarriage, a new house or a change in job status, most people don't always handle transitions terribly well. I am no exception. Yet, while emotions were certainly a part of my first month of retirement, it was also a month filled with many simple pleasures.
I was concerned in the beginning with being able to disconnect from my life's work after having it on my mind 24/7 for 24 years. Would I continue to wake at 3:00 in the morning with some new pricing scheme? Would I still ponder competition while driving along the highway? Could I learn to simply not care anymore whether a new product succeeds or fails? Some demons, I've learned, are easier to exorcise than others, but I'm getting there. And, of course, not having deadlines to meet or reports to write or forecasts to make or goals to achieve or budgets to beat are among the greatest of all the simple pleasures.
So is getting up at 5:45 am because you want to rather than because you have to if you are to have any change of making it to work on time. And, of course, the greatest simple pleasure of them all is the afternoon nap. As long as you want, as short as you want. No limits, no consequences. Just like Sam taught me. Pure pleasure, plain and simple.
After one month of retirement, my only regret is that I've not started an oil painting or read a Harvard Classics book. I've simply not had the time. Oh, that's not true. I've had plenty of time but I've let other things get in the way. Sculpting, gardening, golf, being as one with the great outdoors. Walking old roads. Visiting the places of my youth. Smoking cigars. Hearing the silence of the mountains. Listening to the rain. Watching the sun set. Feeling the darkness of night surround you. Not knowing which day of the week it is and not particularly caring. Yes, indeed, simple pleasures all.
After one month I'm still not yet certain about what to do with the rest of my life. No matter how many assets you have set aside and what resources you have put into place, you can never be certain that you will run out of life before you run out of money. And, I do so loathe left-brained budgeting!
One of the options I've considered is going back to work. Maybe two or three days a week, and not in corporate America. Teaching is one possibility, but with the price of gasoline being what it is and what teachers get paid these days, that's a break-even scenario at best. I've also considered starting a business of one kind or another. Of course, the great risk with a business is that they can become great sinkholes of time.
I've talked with a number of retirees over the last month and, to a person, they have all advised me to stay retired. Indeed, nary a one of them expressed any regrets of having done so.
Full time retirement would afford the most opportunities for simple pleasures. I could, for example, volunteer to help maintain the Appalachian Trail. That would be very satisfying to me because the AT is a simple pleasure available to everyone who will only partake of it.
Now that I've mastered the washing machine, I've also discovered a number of simple pleasures in house husbandry, none more so than preparing dinner. I love to cook. It's a very right-brained activity when you don't use recipes and I seldom, if ever, do. It's a pleasure to go to the market in the afternoon and shop for food for that evening's dinner. What looks good. What's on sale. What you already have on hand. What will go with what. Just like a chef, except that you are cooking in a restaurant with a single table for two. Indeed, with your purchases and a little imagination, it's a simple pleasure to prepare a healthy and satisfying dinner at a minimum of expense.
And, with that, I think it's time for me to join Sam in a nap.
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