After a few efforts at retirement, over the past few years and realising it wasn’t the right time for me, finally the time was right in November last year. I was two months off turning 70, and had hoped to work until at least my 70th birthday, but that didn’t happen. I had a few medical issues that needed to be dealt with and would require time off, and I didn’t feel that I could give 100% to my job, while taking the time off that was needed.
My biggest issue was my knee, which was letting me down very quickly and needed intensive physio to get my mobility back. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that by working. I was limping into work every day, and could feel that I was becoming less and less mobile.
I was quite distressed, when I first realised that I would need to retire and couldn’t foresee what my life in retirement would look like.
I can say now that retiring was the right decision, even though I do feel that I left it a little late. If I had retired perhaps one year earlier, I possibly wouldn’t have the bad knee that I have now, and may be able to walk further or ride further in my retirement.
I’m not the kind of person who looks back, so I’m not even going to think about that. I’m trying every day to do what is needed to improve. Since retiring, I’ve been doing multiple physio sessions every week. When I first started, I told myself that I would do whatever the physio told me to do, and give myself the best chance of having a good outcome. My last session was last week, and I’m happy to see that I had a fantastic result. I’m much more mobile now, and even though I can only walk for about an hour, I’m very happy with that as it wasn’t so long ago that I was getting around on a crutch and couldn’t walk at all.
I have been told that if I keep doing my physio exercises at home, I will keep on improving, so that is what I’m doing. I do them three times each week, and am strength training at the gym, also three times each week. Oscar is always waiting each day for his walk, so we rarely miss.
So, this little look back at the past three months brings me to my questions about retirement.
Why am I so busy in retirement?
How did I ever find the time to work full time, and with travel, be away from home for 11 hours every day?
How did I do all that, and still be able to do most things that I wanted to do?
Here I am now, enjoying my retirement, and finding that I am really, really busy. As I write this, I realise that yes, I am busy, but I’m not rushing. I do spend more time now on the things that I love to do, rather than rushing through them as I did while working. I can honestly say that I rarely have any down time in my day. I make sure I’m still out of bed early to get my day started, as I worry about slipping into bad habits.
The things that take up my day are walking, gym, gardening, coffee dates with friends, (very important), reading, genealogy, and blogging. You will probably have noticed that most of the things that I fill my day with are the fun things in life. The beauty of retirement is that I can devote as much time as I want to on all of the above…..and more if I feel like it. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and for as long as I want without feeling at all guilty. I love that feeling, and it is exactly as I’d hoped retirement would be.
Have you also noticed how busy your life is in retirement?
This post is linked to the Wednesday Words & Whimsy linkup hosted by Min from Write of the Middle
How wonderful to be busy doing the things you enjoy! Your comment about not having to rush through activities anymore really resonated with me. Because I’m still working, I have such a sense of scarcity about time. I rush to get as much done as possible and wonder why I’m exhausted all the time.
I am glad you are happy in retirement. It's a tricky thing for a lot of people. Hope all the physio pays off! #WWWhimsy