I have been retired (for the second time) now for 2 weeks. Nothing is ever for sure but I have certainly entered into this version easier than the first. Two good signs are that I haven't made plans to move and I am rearranging furniture inside and out to embrace my hobbies. Perhaps the worst of it is enduring everyone's jokes about whether or not I will stay retired.
The more I ponder the difference between this time and 6 years ago, the more I come to understand all the pieces of making these transitions in life more or less successful. It definitely helped to return to my prior job even part time to realize all the reasons I left it before. Energy is first on the list. I was tired almost every day and sometimes I would feel tired just thinking about what I had to do. A close second is the challenge of working with adults - definitely not my forte. But the most profound reason is despite all my preparations, I don't think I was ready to retire last time. I did all the right things, discernment and all, but in retrospect I think my initial move away was fear of not knowing how to create a life of leisure in a place where I had only worked. It's easy to recreate a new life in a new place but not so easy to do in the place where you already live. You must combat everyone's opinion of what you should be doing in retirement even though none of them has done it - volunteer, substitute, find a part time job outside of education - as well as dream up who and what you are without work. Add on to that the fear of being able to make ends meet financially in one of the most expensive places in the country. I just couldn't imagine I could ever do that; any of it. It was really so much easier to move and justify to myself and others that it was a financial decision as well as familial; I would be living within a few miles of my sister. I don't regret any of it. Life is all about learning. I learned lots about cold temperatures and a little snow - not a problem - and about sunlight exposure as you move north - BIG PROBLEM for someone who had been in sunny California for 40 years.
So now it is finally time to confront the issues of being unemployed in the place where you were defined by your work. Financially, I have all my tiny pots of money in place; Social Security, two pensions, and my savings. Socially, I now have a few friends who are retired and have blazed the trail ahead of me. Familial, I am blessed to be living 2 blocks from my daughter and her family. Spiritually, I continue to work on the call to serve. Professionally, yes, I will be volunteering at the school I left to fulfill part of that question. But no thank you to the substitute or part time job options.
I have begun work on a weekly schedule to make use of the larger blocks of time I have to work with so I won't "just read" or find out what's up next on Netflix. It definitely helps to have done this before. Monday is laundry day, Tuesday is still a cheap day at the movie theaters and always a good day to grocery shop. Wednesday will be my field trip day so that I can continue to enjoy everything the Bay Area has to offer but without the crowds. Thursday will be my appointment day so I don't chop the rest of the week into pieces. In between are blocks of time set aside to read, write, and garden. It all looks great on paper. And here is evidence that it can work. It's Monday and the laundry is in the dryer and I wrote this!
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