WHERE HAVE I BEEN, WHERE AM I GOING?

I look forward to retirement. So far I have been focusing primarily on how to fill the holes left by vacating a rewarding job; how to cover the perceived future deficits in social, creative, intellectual, meaningful, and physical spheres. It seems however, that I might be ignoring the benefits of the extra things that might open up for me in my new found freedom. This is something that I must also be open to.

My friends tell me that they are feeling more relaxed in retirement. They are finding new pathways that excite them. They are engaging with other people more, structuring their time with projects that needed to be done, and clearing up years of messes and accumulated junk. They are having morning coffee in a salon format; they are taking classes, doing yoga, and going to health clubs. They are finding meaningful opportunities to volunteer, taking trips they have been meaning to take, and crossing off wishes from their bucket lists.

There is also a tendency among my friends to re-visit the past and to consider new ways of viewing their formative years. One says that he watched old reruns of “Gunsmoke” and “The Rifleman” and was able to enjoy watching in an unabated and non-judgmental state of peace. Another friend took a motorbike ride to visit a friend that he had not seen since the two served together as medics in the Vietnam War. I will be visiting friends and family in Europe and participating in a 45-year reunion this upcoming summer.

With friends in Muswell Hill, London, circa 1971

Same friends, same room, 2003

It could be said that rather than closing down options and having to start over, retirement is a great opportunity to expand consciousness, to find new perspectives, and to discover my natural flow.