I am retired. Those words used to be synonymous with 'not working' but today they more often mean 'fully occupied in non paying activities'. What happened to our retirement vision of long lazy days reading all those books we never had time for, taking up painting, writing, woodwork, sculpture, golf, whatever activity seemed most attractive and out of reach in a 'working' life?
Retirees do participate in a lot of interesting activities but frequently one hears the comment "No I just don't have time for that". I can certainly understand that, how on earth do people find time to blog? I enjoy writing, talking to people, developing ideas so blogging looked ideal for someone like me, but; when do I fit it in? Certainly it takes longer to get things done nowadays, I've already talked about that in another post, but just looking at my calendar, jampacked with a whole range of commitments, makes me tired.I also have a large garden (mostly neglected) two dogs to walk, two cats to commune with and a partner who expects that I will occasionally sit down and talk as well as cooking, cleaning etc. Then of course there is the "Family"! I live 500 kilometres away from the nearest of my family so visits, just for contact or to help out mean a minimum of three days away from home. It's unrealistic to expect family to get down here very often as they have work and children to fit into their timetables so the onus is on me to make the trip.
Now I'm not alone in being time short, everyone I meet talks about it. I have just been trying to arrange a lunch with a friend in the next town and the exchange of emails would be quite funny if it wasn't so worrying!
We swapped dates and times back and forwards for days before being able to reach a suitable one. When I was working I could often meet friends for lunch why is it so hard now? Work occupied a large block of time every day, six, seven or eight hours. Mostly a block of time that was non-negotiable and accepted as such. Other activities got fitted in at the weekend or some evenings. But our activities were probably realistic in terms of what we could manage whereas being retired has taken away the 'block' each day and now we have filled it with a multitude of activities all of varying times and locations so our days feel fragmented and far too busy.
Creative activities like painting and writing take time, so it looks like having to make some hard decisions soon regarding setting priorities. Just what should I give up in order to be the creative person I had hoped to be when I 'retired'. Here's hoping I don't decide to give up blogging!
