Since I've been retired, I have to admit that I am simply NOT using my time well. I suppose Parkinson's Law is at play here:
Now I do a couple day's worth of volunteer work each week, and have much less travel time than I did when working, but... sadly, I don't seem to get much more done. Without the structure of a specific departure time each morning, my coffee and newspaper and reading time often stretches into late morning. I am reading more and knitting more... a lot more. For awhile I was watching multiple episodes of various TV shows on my Kindle. But I've been behind on household chores. Lately, I never completely catch up on laundry, for instance.
This is probably one of the biggest challenges of retirement. When you retire, you have all this additional time. It's such a relief, having all the time you want to do whatever you want. But most people who retire these days find they have less money... often much less money than when they worked. A lot of the leisure activities I pictured myself doing in retirement... those cubicle daydreams... cost money... the money that is now in short supply.
Of course we're still working in retirement, just not for money. Many people take up various kinds of volunteer work, like my tutoring. But we often spend more time doing things around the house and yard. We cook more and go for takeout less, which is good for our limited budgets. We do more repairs and improvements ourselves, rather than hiring someone. And we do more crafting... like my knitting. Men take up woodwork.
I really like the more relaxed lifestyle, not having to get up before first light and rush around to get out the door. Not coming home after dark and struggling to find something halfway healthful to eat before collapsing in front of the TV, then falling asleep in front of the TV, waking later and stumbling off to bed. Only to wake the next morning and do the same thing. I always had a fantasy about getting home early enough to watch the McNeill Lehrer Report (now The News Hour) on PBS. Now that I have the time, I rarely watch TV at all, even The News Hour, but I do relish drinking a morning coffee and reading the paper.
Recently I decided to get a bit more serious about learning Spanish, a goal I've had for years. So I downloaded some audio MP3's to my tablet and hauled out my old Spanish texts and a fresh, lined notebook. I've been spending some time every day doing audio lessons and reading and doing exercises from my text. And I found a Spanish-language telenovela (kind of like the American soap operas, but better.) It feels good to be working on this goal rather than reading more sort of junky novels or watching more episodes of Scandal on my tablet. And really, Scandal's plots just keep getting increasingly absurd, don't they? If I want to watch absurd plotlines, I can at least watch them on Univision and learn some Spanish into the bargain.
I still feel like I need a little more structure in my days. I'm torn between the comfort of regularity and the freedom of a spontaneous lifestyle, I guess. But I notice that I can enjoy the spontaneity a little more when I've been regular about getting necessary chores completed, keeping the laundry done, the closets cleaned and organized, and the rugs vacuumed. There is a certain freedom that comes from order.
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." Cyril Northcote Parkinson, in The Economist, 1955.When I was working, I'd get up early, fit in a few chores before leaving the house, and then in the evening get more done before I headed upstairs to my office to work on lesson materials for the next day. There were some things that didn't get done, however. I did not get in a walk with the dog every day, for example, and I always had catching up to do on the weekends.
Now I do a couple day's worth of volunteer work each week, and have much less travel time than I did when working, but... sadly, I don't seem to get much more done. Without the structure of a specific departure time each morning, my coffee and newspaper and reading time often stretches into late morning. I am reading more and knitting more... a lot more. For awhile I was watching multiple episodes of various TV shows on my Kindle. But I've been behind on household chores. Lately, I never completely catch up on laundry, for instance.
This is probably one of the biggest challenges of retirement. When you retire, you have all this additional time. It's such a relief, having all the time you want to do whatever you want. But most people who retire these days find they have less money... often much less money than when they worked. A lot of the leisure activities I pictured myself doing in retirement... those cubicle daydreams... cost money... the money that is now in short supply.
Of course we're still working in retirement, just not for money. Many people take up various kinds of volunteer work, like my tutoring. But we often spend more time doing things around the house and yard. We cook more and go for takeout less, which is good for our limited budgets. We do more repairs and improvements ourselves, rather than hiring someone. And we do more crafting... like my knitting. Men take up woodwork.
I really like the more relaxed lifestyle, not having to get up before first light and rush around to get out the door. Not coming home after dark and struggling to find something halfway healthful to eat before collapsing in front of the TV, then falling asleep in front of the TV, waking later and stumbling off to bed. Only to wake the next morning and do the same thing. I always had a fantasy about getting home early enough to watch the McNeill Lehrer Report (now The News Hour) on PBS. Now that I have the time, I rarely watch TV at all, even The News Hour, but I do relish drinking a morning coffee and reading the paper.
Recently I decided to get a bit more serious about learning Spanish, a goal I've had for years. So I downloaded some audio MP3's to my tablet and hauled out my old Spanish texts and a fresh, lined notebook. I've been spending some time every day doing audio lessons and reading and doing exercises from my text. And I found a Spanish-language telenovela (kind of like the American soap operas, but better.) It feels good to be working on this goal rather than reading more sort of junky novels or watching more episodes of Scandal on my tablet. And really, Scandal's plots just keep getting increasingly absurd, don't they? If I want to watch absurd plotlines, I can at least watch them on Univision and learn some Spanish into the bargain.
I still feel like I need a little more structure in my days. I'm torn between the comfort of regularity and the freedom of a spontaneous lifestyle, I guess. But I notice that I can enjoy the spontaneity a little more when I've been regular about getting necessary chores completed, keeping the laundry done, the closets cleaned and organized, and the rugs vacuumed. There is a certain freedom that comes from order.
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